One Torah For All

One Torah shall be to him that is home-born, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.
Exodus 12:49

Leaven
What it is and its spiritual application

Matithyah (Matthew) 13:33
Another parable He spoke unto them; “The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened.”

If one cannot take a small lump of dough or, as above, chametz and then place it with a large lump of dough and that whole lump then becomes leavened, then the original piece of dough was not leavened. A piece of dough with baking powder or baking soda in it will not leaven another piece of dough. Therefore, it is not chametz (leaven). Only true chametz (leaven) can be taken from a small piece and be used to leaven a whole loaf, as Yeshua points out in the passage above. There are only two types of chametz which I am presently aware of, that of yeast which one buys in a store and sour dough which is leavened out of the air naturally. Both of these two types of chametz (leaven) have live cultures in them and will continue to grow and reproduce no matter how much flour is added to the lump of dough. Baking powder and baking soda and other such things will not do this, that is, the more flour added, then their properties will be diminished because they are not live cultures.

It is often understood that leaven is representative of sin. Thus we are commanded to remove leaven from our lives during the days of unleavened bread during the first month of the year. Please consider this passage as in regards to leaven.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 19:19
Then you shall do unto him, as he had thought to do unto his brother: so you shall put away the evil from among you.

Again and again, in the Torah Moshe YHWH has commanded His people to remove the evil from amongst us. He has given us this commandment because the presence of sin spreads just like leaven. A little leaven will leaven the whole lump of dough. Likewise, a little sin in the midst of His people will spread to all the people. When this happens, His judgment is not long in coming. We do not desire judgment, but rather, we desire compassion from our heavenly Father.

Shemot (Exodus) 12:15
Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away leaven out of your houses; for whosoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.

This commandment concerning leaven, removing it and not eating any for seven days is a very serious matter, transgressing this commandment results in being removed from Israel. Basically, this is a death sentence.

It is because of the seriousness of this commandment which man has added all the fences he has added. However, while a fence has good intentions, instead of a fence helping one to keep the commandment of YHWH, more often it has the opposite effect, that being, it keeps one away from the commandment, thus one ends up not obeying the commandment. This is particularly true concerning the intent of the commandment. So many things have been added to this commandment which consists of anything that makes flour rise that the commandment has become nearly unrecognizable. This is not the definition of leaven. In order for something to be leaven, a little has to be able to leaven the whole lump of dough. If it cannot, then it is not leaven.

On the spiritual level then, this is what happens. Since leaven is representative of sin, calling those things which are not leaven, leaven is like calling those things which are not sin, sin. When this happens the door is opened to actual sin. To make a determination that something is a sin, when in fact it is not a sin, is to add to Torah, something which our heavenly Father has commanded us not to do.

Please allow me to clarify one point here. It is not wrong for a person to remove baking powder or baking soda or other such substances. It is his choice. But such a person must understand that because these things are not leaven, he cannot attempt to impose such actions upon others, nor condemn others for not doing likewise, simply because we are not commanded to remove such things.

Does each person have the same exact sin in his life as every other person? No. This is not to say that each person does not have sin, for Scripture clearly teaches us that all men have sinned and fallen short of His glory. Thus, as we come up to the time of the days of unleavened bread, let each man remove the leaven from his home as well as looking inwardly and seeking to remove any sin from his life as well.

One brief word about the definition of sin, sin is a breaking of a commandment of YHWH. Sin does not consist of breaking man’s traditions or man’s additions to His commandments. Only when one breaks a commandment of YHWH has he sinned.

May YHWH bless you during the days of unleavened bread with clarity of mind and shalom in your heart.

Shabbat Shalom
Zerubbabel ben Emunah
www.onetorahforall.com