There is a connection between this week’s Torah portion of Tzav and Pesach which starts right after Shabbos. The connection is chometz. Everyone knows we may not have chometz, “leavened bread,” throughout Pesach, but also most of the different types of korban mincha, meal offerings, were also made without chometz. As it says, “It shall not be baked leavened, I have presented it as their share from My fire-offering; it is most holy, like the sin-offering and like the guilt-offering” (Vayikra 6:10). But there are some meal-offerings where chometz is in fact included, as discussed in the parsha, like the korban todah, the thanksgiving-offering. (Parenthetically that is why we don’t say the paragraph of Mizmor Litodah during pesukei dizimra the entire Pesach – because this paragraph represents the korban todah which was brought during the year with chometz.)
Why is the meal offering of the thanksgiving-offering different than the sin-offering or guilt-offering?
A korban todah was brought to thank Hashem for saving one’s life in different circumstances. Today we bentche gomel upon recovering from a major illness, traveling overseas or over a desert, and getting out of jail.
The Rabbeinu Bachye in last week’s Torah portion of Vayikra (2:11) explains why chometz cannot be used in the meal offerings for a korban chatas (sin-offering) or korban asham (guilt offering): “According to the simple understanding, the sacrifice is to atone for our sins, and if not for the inciter and instigator, referring to the yetzer hara, then a person would not sin and would not need to bring a sacrifice at all. Chometz (and honey) are the yetzer hara themselves as Chaza”l say, (Mechilta Pesicha 5), in terms of chometz and matza on Pesach that a person must turn away his heart from the yetzer hara and that is why it says, ‘and you shall not eat upon it chometz’ (Devarim 16:3), referring to the korban pesach (paschal lamb). The korban pesach was atonement for the idolatry they worshiped in Egypt, and therefore He distanced them from the yetzer hara in order to not go back to idolatry… and therefore chometz (and honey) were kept far away from the offering because it’s not possible to have two polar opposites in one package, furthermore it’s like purifying oneself in a mikva while holding an unclean rodent.” (Click here for Hebrew text.)
We see from here that by the korban todah, the thanksgiving-offering, which has nothing to do with sin, it is appropriate to use chometz as part of the offering. But the korban chatas, or asham, the sin- and guilt-offerings, which atone for sins, do not use chometz, which is the yetzer hara, evil inclination, as it would be a contradiction to use it to atone for sin.
Why is chometz, leavened bread, the yetzer hara? It can still be kosher and eaten everyday besides on Pesach. And for these offerings, why are they even called the yetzer hara, and not at least referred to as a hint to the yetzer hara, or something to that effect?
Rabbeinu Bachye in his Kad HaKemach (chapter on Pesach) explains in more detail that the word chometz comes from the language of “כי יתחמץ לבבי…” (Tehillim 73:21). “When my heart was in ferment though my mind was sharp.” (Parenthetically in Tehillim (71:4) it says אלוקי פרטני מיד רשע מכף מעול וחומץ, “My G-D, deliver me from the wicked one’s hand, from the palm of the schemer and the violent one.”) The heart which is on the verge of sinning is compared to dough on the verge of fermenting (or leavening), also a righteous person on the verge of wickedness is called by Chaza”l as “hechmitz,” one who has fermented, as we see in terms of Koresh in Rosh Hashanah 3b… for this reason the Torah says you shouldn’t be seen or found [with chometz], don’t be seen in action and don’t be found in thought, rather it, [the yetzer hara,] should be nullified in your heart… you can learn that the prohibition of chometz includes the entire mitzva, and since chometz is a hint to the yetzer hara, from here, there is a hint that just as we are commanded by the Torah to nullify chometz in our hearts, so to we are obligated to nullify the evil inclination from the heart and not have it rule over us etc.” (Click here for Hebrew text.)
We see from Rabbeinu Bachye’s Kad HaKemach, that in fact chometz is more of a hint to the yetzer hara, even though in his commentary to the Torah, Rabbeinu Bachye calls chometz the yetzer hara. In fact, the Alshich also treats chometz as the yetzer hara itself, as we find in the beginning of the Migdal Eder HaChodosh Haggada, paraphrasing the Alshich: “Chometz is the yetzer hara for it is sour (חמוץ) and blemished (פגום). So to we also find that the gematria of chometz (חמץ) is פגימה, (blemish, fault, defect). The yetzer hara is the one who ruins (מחמיץ) a person and distracts him from serving Hashem. A person has to overcome him and not let him rule over him at all, only use him when needed, when there is no other choice (like for basic needs of eating, sleeping, clothing etc.), but for all other matters find ways to distance oneself from him, for he is forbidden to get any benefit from when not needed. One might ask why is chometz permitted the entire year and just burned for these days, on the contrary, it should be the opposite, that one should benefit from it for only a small amount of time, and the rest of the year stay far away from it and destroy it? However, this really isn’t a question because all one has to do is stay away from [chometz] a little bit, for there really is no mitzvah where a person is not fighting against and doing whatever he can to stop the one who is trying to stop you from performing that mitzva. This is the intent of Hashem to give you more good, reward for your actions, and because [the yetzer hara] is needed for every part of the existence of this world [in order for us to earn our reward through our tireless efforts], then he can’t be nullified. But a hint was given to anyone with a soul and mind to burn him [the yetzer hara], and therefore one who is of soul and mind should put in all his efforts to do so when appropriate.” (Click here for Hebrew text.)
Chometz is not forbidden to be eaten all year round like pig, shellfish, and other non-kosher animals, but is only prohibited at certain times of the year and in certain circumstances. However, this ban is indeed because chometz is the yetzer hara; meaning the essence of chometz and the essence of the yetzer hara are the same. Just as grain when fermented or leavened will rise and be distorted, and in fact if you add yeast to flour you might get the perfect rise for a good bread, however if it is left too long it becomes very sour and even inedible. So too, when fermenting any vegetable or fruit, there is a phase of it being edible but if left too long or in too much it’s ruined. So too there is a need for the yetzer hara in the world, for a basic drive for physical needs. Without it a person would not want to eat, sleep, get married, etc. and would not be able to survive. But too much of it, and too lavish, can also be deadly. Therefore Hashem fashioned into this world a week that even the essence of the yetzer hara should be erased from all the Jews, in order to focus us on what’s important in the purpose of our lives. This reinforces our combat skills to fight the unneeded yetzer hara during the rest of the year.
It also makes more sense why chometz was not used for meal-offerings of the sin- and guilt-offerings. Because the essence of the yetzer hara should not even be mentioned or hinted at in those offerings, since they would not have to be even needed if the yetzer hara didn’t exist.
Good Shabbos HaGadol and Happy Pesach,
Rabbi Dovid Shmuel Milder