Our search and destroy mission TB Pesakhim 2

With today’s daf Pesakhim 2 we begin a brand new massekhet. A few words of introduction are needed. There are two reasons why massekhet Pesakhim follows massekhet Eruvin. According to the Torah Nisan is the first month of the Hebrew calendar year (Exodus 12: 2). Consequently Pesakh or Passover in English is the first holiday of the year. Now that we are beginning to learn about all the other holidays beyond Shabbat, having massekhet Pesakhim comes first makes a lot of sense. Secondly, all through out the Talmud, the messekhtot are arranged according to the number of chapters it contains. Massekhet Shabbat has 24 chapters; massekhet Eruvin has 10 chapters; and Pesakhim has 10 chapters as well. Massekhet Shekalim which comes next only has 8 chapters.

Our massekhet discusses three major topics, laws concerning hametz (anything leavened) and matzah (חמץ ומצה), the Paschal lamb sacrifice (קרבן פסח), and the Seder. The Meiri writes that the Geonim divided this massekhet into two halves. The first half or what they called Pesakh I, chapters 1-4 and 10 deal with hametz, matzah, and the Seder and chapters 5-9 or what they called Pesakh II deal with the Paschal lamb. Apparently this is the reason why the massekhet is called Pesakhim (פסחים) in the plural because of the two Pesakhs instead of in the singular Pesakh (פסח).

The laws of hametz on Passover are unique because one is forbidden to eat it, derive benefit from it, and to even own it (בַל יֵרָאֶה וּבַל ימָּצֵא). The punishment for violating the mitzvah of hametz and matzah is koreit.

The massekhet walks us through the preparation for Pesakh itself by beginning the eve of Passover. The Mishnah begins with the search for hametz (בדיקת חמץ) on the night of the fourteenth of Nisan.

“On the evening [or] of the fourteenth of the month of Nisan, one searches for leavened bread in his home by candlelight. Any place into which one does not typically take leavened bread does not require a search, as it is unlikely that there is any leavened bread there.” (Sefaria.org translation)

Rashi explains that the purpose of the search is to prevent ownership (בַל יֵרָאֶה וּבַל ימָּצֵא). Tosefot (ד"ה אוֹר לְאַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר בּוֹדְקִין אֶת הֶחָמֵץ) are startled at Rashi’s understanding. Annulling the hametz in one’s heart (ביטול בלב) is enough to satisfy the Torah’s requirement to relinquish ownership. The rabbis added this search because it is the first phase of its destruction by fire (ביעור חמץ). The reason why the rabbis added this stringency has to do with the very nature of hametz. For 354 days of the year hametz is permitted. Because people are so used to eating it (לא בדילי מיניה), when a person sees hametz on Passover he may eat it without thinking and transgress. To avoid this possibility they ordained that we search and then destroy the hametz. You could call this our first search and destroy mission!