Chametz

Chametz (Hebrew חמץ ) ( Ashkenazi pronunciation in Chometz or Chumetz ) literally means leavened.

What is meant is usually leavened bread within the meaning of the Bible ( Torah ) shall, at the Passover (Passover ) forbidden foods. These are all foods, one of the five cereals contain wheat, oats, rye, barley and spelled, and in their manufacture more than 18 minutes in contact with water, were to be baked without the. All these foods must be removed according to Jewish religious law before Passover out of the house and any property to be abandoned it.

The background of this custom is that the Israelites had not yet leavened bread during the exodus from Egypt, which is celebrated on Passover, because of the urgent renewal and therefore could only bake unleavened bread (Ex 12,39 ). The Feast of Unleavened Bread is simultaneously made ​​by YHWH to the procedure for all subsequent years ( Ex 12,17.20 ) - the provision is mentioned in the text prior to the origin, which is chronologically not quite insightful.