Shemot 12:20

20 Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellingplaces shall ye eat matzot.

Shemot 12:20 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 12:20

Ye shall eat nothing leavened
Bread or anything else that had any leaven in it: in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread,
that is, if they eat any bread at all, it must be such; otherwise they might eat cakes of almonds or of eggs mixed with sugar, provided there was no leaven used, and this the Jews call the rich unleavened bread F16: this is repeated over and over, that they might be the more careful of observing this precept; but as this was limited for a certain time, it plainly appears to be a mistake of Tacitus F17 the Roman historian, who represents unleavened bread as the bread the Jews eat of in common.


FOOTNOTES:

F16 See Leo Modena's History of the Rites of the Jews, par. 3. c. 3. sect. 5.
F17 Hist. l. 5. c. 4.

Shemot 12:20 In-Context

18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at erev, ye shall eat matzot, until the one and twentieth day of the month at erev.
19 Shivat yamim shall there be no se’or (yeast, leaven) found in your batim (houses); whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that nefesh shall be cut off from Adat Yisroel, whether he be a ger, or native born in ha’aretz.
20 Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellingplaces shall ye eat matzot.
21 Then Moshe called for all the Ziknei Yisroel, and said unto them, Draw out as separate and take for yourselves a lamb according to your mishpokhot, and slaughter (shachat) the Pesach [offering, i.e., Pesach lamb (see Yeshayah 53:7)].
22 And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the dahm that is in the basin, and strike the mashkof (lintel) and the two mezuzot (door sideposts) with the dahm that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out the door of his bais until boker.
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