One-Page Learn · The Halachos at a glance
חָמֵץ וּמַצָּה
Chametz u'Matzah · Chapter 1
Sefer Zemanim · Why one loaf can be holy on Shabbos and sever a soul on Pesach
Karet
For eating an olive of chametz on Pesach
7 days
Chametz is forbidden, 15-21 Nisan
Never
The amount that nullifies chametz on Pesach
3 hours
The graduated fence on Erev Pesach
Part 1The weight of a crumb
- Karet for an olive. Eating an olive-sized portion of chametz intentionally, from the night of the 15th through the 21st of Nisan, carries karet; unintentionally, a sin-offering. (1:1)
- Drinking counts as eating. Converting chametz to a liquid and drinking it is liable exactly as eating it - the law leaves no seam to slip it back in. (1:1)
- Below the threshold. Even less than an olive of pure chametz is forbidden by the Torah, though only an olive's size carries the full penalty; there is no floor below which a little chametz stops mattering. (1:7)
RememberThe bread's chemistry never changed - the calendar did; the severity is in the relationship, not the object.
Part 2Not seen, not found
- No benefit at all. On Pesach one may not eat chametz, nor sell it, nor use it for anything - all benefit is forbidden. (1:2)
- Two prohibitions, not one. Leaving chametz in your property violates both "no leaven shall be seen in your territory" and "no leaven shall be found in your homes." (1:2)
- The excuse is closed too. Chametz a Jew owned over Pesach is barred from benefit forever after - a penalty set so no one would leave it deliberately, pretending to have forgotten. (1:4)
RememberThe Torah is not content that chametz go uneaten - it wants it gone from your domain, out of sight and possession.
Part 3The thing that cannot be diluted
- Never nullified. Unlike every other forbidden food (nullified 60 to 1), the slightest speck of chametz forbids an entire mixture on Pesach. (1:5)
- Why it cannot dissolve. Because chametz will become permitted again after Pesach, the law refuses the leniency of nullification now - you cannot dilute your way past what you will face directly. (1:5)
- Mixtures vs. the thing itself. Karet is only for chametz itself; eating a chametz-mixture (like beer or kutach) brings lashes under a different verse, "you shall not eat any leaven." (1:6)
RememberA speck of chametz is never outweighed - it forbids the whole; you find it and remove it, you do not dilute it.
Part 4A fence before a fence
- The Torah's line. Eating chametz is forbidden by the Torah from midday on the 14th (the seventh hour); one who eats then is lashed. (1:8)
- The Sages' fence. They forbade eating from the sixth hour to guard the Torah's line - eating then brings "stripes for rebellion," and benefit is forbidden too. (1:9-10)
- A fence around the fence. They forbade eating in the fifth hour as well, lest a cloudy day cause a person to confuse the fifth hour with the sixth - though benefit is still permitted then. (1:9-10)
RememberNever stand at the edge and trust yourself - the Sages moved the wall back, and back again, and built in margin for the cloudy day.