Q&A: On Leavened Food That Was Burned Before and During Passover
On Leavened Food That Was Burned Before and During Passover
Question
Hello Rabbi, and happy holiday,
In one of your lessons on the ukimtot, you mentioned that someone who burned leavened food has effectively frozen its time dimension, so that if the burning was done before Passover, then it is permitted even during Passover. My question is whether this also works in the opposite direction: if someone burned leavened food during Passover, would it then be forbidden after Passover? In addition, does the rabbinic decree regarding leavened food that remained in a Jew’s possession over Passover also apply to leavened food that was burned before or during Passover? Or would we say that since we “froze” their time dimension, in effect Passover did not pass over them?
Answer
The example of burned leavened food is stated explicitly in the Talmud at the beginning of chapter 2 of tractate Pesachim.
In the background, one must understand that the prohibition concerns Passover leavened food that is eaten during Passover. Time appears in two parameters: the time of eating and the affiliation of the leavened food. When leavened food is burned during Passover, the object still has the status of Passover leavened food, and therefore it is forbidden to eat it during the time of the prohibition. But such a freezing is relevant only to the definition of the leavened food itself—whether it is Passover leavened food or not. The prohibition on eating leavened food applies only during Passover. There is no freezing of objective time, only of the time-affiliation of the leavened food.
On the other hand, eliminating leavened food requires burning all the leavened food, and whatever remains is disposed of—you do not leave any trace of it.