As we explained in another place, Pharaoh held the Jewish people by the neck, so to speak, squeezing their throats and blocking the connection between the head and the body, blocking the flow of daas. This is a life-threatening state.
Chametz is like Pharaoh. It threatens us with the same spiritual danger. Thus the punishment for eating chametz is kares, being “cut off.” This signifies severing and cutting off the head from the body. Total death. We go to great efforts to avoid chametz on Pesach.
We remove chametz even from our possession. This represents cleaning out the passageway leading from the head to the body, so that daas can flow freely and bring true emunah into our life. The mitzvos of Pesach free us from Pharaoh’s stranglehold on our spiritual life. They enable us to be reborn as Jews.
Masculine Chametz, Feminine Chametz
Let’s break down the concept of chametz. There are leavened food products, like bread. This is called chametz. And there is a highly fermented starter dough, which we might call “sourdough.” This is called se’or. The Torah speaks of both, and forbids both.
But that’s not all, because the Arizal says that there are actually two terms for leavened food products, for chametz. These expressions are chametz and machmetzes. Similarly, there are two terms for the starter dough, for se’or. These expressions are se’or and misheres. The second expression is not so common, but we find it in the verse that says "Their fermentation dough was wrapped up in their garments."
The word chametz is in the masculine, and the word machmetzes is in the feminine. Similarly, the word seor is in the masculine, and the word misheres is in the feminine. We want to understand the meaning of masculine and feminine here.
The difference between chametz and se’or is well known. Chametz is leavened but it is not capable of causing another dough to ferment. Whereas se’or, if you put a little of it into another dough, will cause the whole dough to ferment. So that’s the difference between chametz and se’or. But what’s this differentiation between masculine and feminine within each category?
It’s based on the difference between males and females. Male, masculine, is the element that is active, that builds. A man is a worker. Either he creates mundane things through his work, or he learns Torah and builds spiritual worlds.
Female, feminine, is different by nature. A woman doesn’t need to work, to act. It is enough for her to be connected to her husband, to have a relationship with him, and he supplies her with everything, including both her material needs, and her spiritual need for Torah. Her husband’s Torah learning is for her, too.
Along the same lines, we can say that also in chametz and se’or there is male and female. There is “masculine” chametz that damages a person’s avodah, his spiritual work and service, and turns it to chametz. And there is a kind of “feminine” chametz that hurts a person’s connection to Hashem and makes it chametz.
When a person acts and does negative things, this is masculine chametz. But sometimes it’s not the act itself that is the problem; it’s the connection and relationship with Hashem that he damages. This is feminine chametz.
For instance, when a person learns Torah, this is “masculine.” He is creating and building. If he hurts his Torah learning, this is masculine chametz. But when a person prays, this is “feminine.” He is connecting to the Creator. It’s not about doing, it’s about relationship. So when a person hurts his Tefilah, this is machmetzes, feminine chametz.
Also se’or has male and female. Let’s say a person is in shul and is disturbing other people’s learning or davening. This is “masculine” se’or. He is causing chametz in others because he is hurting their avodah, their spiritual work and service. This is the “male” aspect. But if he trains and educates his children to sever their connection with Hakadosh Baruch Hu, he is causing chametz in others by hurting their relationship with Hashem, and this is misheres, “feminine” se’or.
In our lives, there are two types of things we can occupy ourselves with that are not actually an aveirah, they do sometimes damage our relationship with Hashem. And there are also ways in which they can hurt our avodah.
In our generation, there are computers. People are riveted by them. There is also a book on the computer that occupies a person for hours upon hours. This is real chametz of the “masculine” kind, because it causes him to refrain from performing the avodah that he came to this world to do. And if a person uses the computer as a means to influence others, if he thereby deters other from doing their avodas Hashem, this is “masculine” se’or.
Now let’s say a person sits down to read a kosher newspaper. He reads it from beginning to end to know what’s happening in the world. A person is part of this world, and he has a desire to know about everything that is happening in the world. This desire to know what is happening in the world and be connected to the world hurts his connection and relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. This is called machmetzes. It is “feminine” chametz. And if he thereby damages other people’s connection to Hashem, this is misheres, “feminine” se’or.
Permissible Behavior?
Before Pesach we are busy getting rid of chametz. We are not allowed to own any chametz, and actually eating it carries the unusually severe punishment of kareis. This is puzzling because chametz is not essentially a negative thing. There’s nothing wrong with it; we eat it all year long. Why does this regular, permitted staple of life suddenly turn into something so taboo?
The answer is that on Pesach, there is a tremendous illumination of Geulah from Egypt. We need to attach to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. We need to disconnect even from things that are technically permitted but are undesirable. As we said before, we should distance ourselves even from “permissible” occupations, such as reading a kosher newspaper, because it hurts our avodah and our relationship with Hashem.
Even a Little Chametz is Chametz
By Biblical law, the main method to get rid of chametz is by bitul. A person nullifies his chametz mentally, firmly deciding that it doesn’t belong to him and has no significance, and then he won’t transgress the prohibition on owning chametz on Pesach.
But Chazal did not see this as sufficient. They enacted bedikas chametz. There is a well-known explanation for this. It’s because all year long, we do not refrain from consuming chametz. This makes it different from other prohibited foods, such as pork. We don’t need to go on a search for pork, because all year long we refrain from eating pork, and all year long we don’t have pork in the house. But we do have chametz around all the time, and we eat it regularly, so we need to go search for it and remove it.
Since even a little chametz is forbidden, even as an admixture, and we may not even own it, we do a lot of extra cleaning before Pesach. Many women go far beyond the call of duty in this area. There is a story about the Beis Halevi that he saw his wife scrubbing the wall vigorously before Pesach, and he was concerned that not much would be left of the wall, so he asked her to stop. She responded, “If we would rely on you men, we would end up eating rolls on Pesach.”
It is recounted that the wife of an adam gadol...
