The 1st day and the 7th day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread are “High Shabbats”, which means they are NO WORK DAYS, so no work is to be done on April 5th and April 11th which is equivalent to the 15th day and the 21st day of the 1st month on the Zadok Priestly Calendar.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread ties in with Passover as explained last week, which is why we start eating unleavened bread the night of April 4th (Passover) which is technically the start of April 5th (Feast of Unleavened Bread) when the sunsets. These two are only separated by the phase “In between the evenings” meaning when the light and darkness have started mixing, the period where the sun is going down but not officially dark.
Exodus 12:17
“Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations by an ordinance forever. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. “
Exodus 34:18
“Guard the Festival of Matzah (Feast of Unleavened Bread). For seven days you eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, in the Appointed Time of the month of Abib, because in the month of Abib you came out from Egypt.”
Just to clarify, ELOHIM says start eating unleavened bread on the evening of the 14th (April 4th, Passover) because He is stressing that the day will shift to the 15th (Feast of Unleavened Bread) when the sunsets on the 14th.
So, April 4th when the sunsets is the start of the next day (April 5th) so this is what it looks like: 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st= 7 Days! So, the Feast of Unleavened Bread will end when the sunsets on April 11th which is the 21st Day of the 1st month.
I will include a link to a resource from Eliyah.com that lists all types of leavening agents including chemical, biological, and mechanical agents we need to be aware of here: Leavening Agents - EliYah Ministries
We all have our levels of strictness of what is acceptable and what is not when it comes to the Torah, and I happen to be on the strict end of the scale. Another believer may not be as strict and it’s not my place to speak on that, I can only provide the information so everyone can make an informed decision, and most importantly taking it into prayer. However; we cannot get into the habit of trying to circumvent what His word says by trying to find gray areas in the Torah. An example of this would be taking leavening agents or baked goods and putting them in the trunk of your car, in your shed, or giving them to your neighbor to keep until the Feast of Unleavened Bread is over so that you can reclaim your food afterwards. This is NOT what YAHWEH wants to see from us at all.
I encourage everyone to take it into prayer and see how YAHWEH leads you on the matter. Our sole desire should simply be to do what YAHWEH commands with a joyful heart. So again, the list can be strict as he lists a lot of potential leavening agents that need to be disposed of on the first day of the feast of unleavened bread (April 5th).
Instructions
Leviticus 23:6-8
“And on the FIFTEENTH day of the same month (1st month) is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to YAHWEH; for SEVEN days you must eat unleavened bread. On the FIRST DAY you shall have a SET-APART CONVOCATION; you shall DO NO MANNER OF WORK THEREON. But you shall offer an offering made by fire to YAHWEH seven days; on the SEVENTH DAY is a SET-APART CONVOCATION; you shall DO NO MANNER OF WORK THEREON.”
Leviticus 23: 6-8 (Samaritan)
“And on the fifteenth day of this month there is the Festival of Unleavened Bread to YAHWEH, for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the FIRST DAY you shall have a SET-APART READING. You shall not do any laborious work. And for seven days you shall present an offering by fire to YAHWEH. And on the SEVENTH DAY shall be a SET-APART READING. You shall not do any laborious work.”
Temple Scroll Column 17:10-16
“And on the fifteenth day of this month there shall be a SET-APART CONVOCATION. YOU SHALL NOT DO ANY LABORIOUS WORK ON IT; it is the Feast of Unleavened Bread, SEVEN DAYS FOR YAHWEH. And you shall present every single day for the seven days a burnt-offering to YAHWEH: two bulls, a ram, and seven yearling lambs, unblemished, and one billy-goat for a purification offering, and their meal offering and their liquid-offering according to the precept for the bulls and for the rams and for the lambs and for the goats. AND ON THE SEVENTH DAY there shall be a council for YAHWEH; YOU SHALL NOT DO ANY LABORIOUS WORK ON IT.”
Exodus 12:14-20
“This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to YAHWEH---a LASTING LAW. For seven days you are to eat bread made without leaven. On the first day remove the leaven from your houses (April 5th), for whoever eats anything with leaven in it from the first day through the seventh day must be cut off from Israel. On the FIRST day (APRIL 5TH) hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the SEVENTH DAY (APRIL 11TH.) DO NOT WORK AT ALL ON THESE DAYS, except to prepare food for everyone to eat---that is all you may do.”
ELOHIM commands us not to do any work on the 1st and 7th days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the only work we are allowed to do is cook food! We are also supposed to meet with the assembly (set-apart convocation) and have a set-apart reading. This means that we are to gather with brothers and sisters and then read scriptures that pertain to the Feast of Unleavened.
The offering made by fire was already accomplished in what YESHUA did for us all on the execution stake:
Ephesians 5:2 (Complete Jewish Bible)
“And live a life of love, just as also the Messiah loved us, indeed, on our behalf gave Himself up as an offering, AS A SLAUGHTERED SACRFICE TO ELOHIM WITH A PLEASING FRAGRANCE.”
Hebrews 9:12-14 (Complete Jewish Bible)
“He entered the most set-apart place ONCE AND FOR ALL. And He entered not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of HIS OWN BLOOD, THUS SETTING PEOPLE FREE FOREVER.” For if sprinkling ceremonially unclean persons with the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer restores their outward purity; then how much more the blood of the Messiah, Who, through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself to ELOHIM AS A SACRFICE WITHOUT BLEMISH, will purify our conscience from works that lead to death, so that we can serve the living ELOHIM!”
Remove leaven from your homes!
YAHWEH also commands us to remove ALL leaven from our homes on the 1st Day of the Feast (April 5th).
Exodus 12:17-20
“Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations by an ordinance forever. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. Seven days there shall be NO LEAVEN FOUND IN YOUR HOUSES; for whoever eats that which is LEAVENED, that person shall perish from the congregation of Yisra’el, whether he is a PROSYLETE or NATIVE OF THE LAND.” You shall eat nothing leavened in all your habitations you SHALL EAT UNLEAVENED BREAD.”
What is leaven?
Leaven or (Se’or in Hebrew) are leavening agents that cause dough to rise, Strongs #H7603 says Se’or pronounced “Seh-ore” is “barm or yeast cake (as SWELLING BY FERMENTATION):-leaven.”
Barm defined by Oxford Languages: Archaic*Dialect yeast or leaven.
Se’or in Hebrew is spelled Shin, Aleph, Resh
Shin is a picture of two front teeth and means DESTROY, EAT, devour, sharp, press
Aleph is a picture of an Ox head and means FATHER, headship, Strong, Power, Leader
Resh is a picture of a man’s head and means CHIEF, HIGHEST, leader, first, top, beginning
Combining Shin, Aleph, and Resh to spell Se’or we get two messages:
Peshat (literal meaning): Remove and do NOT EAT leaven as commanded by our FATHER THE HIGHEST CHIEF!
And leaven represents iniquity that we are supposed to rid our lives of, so another message contained in the Otiot is:
Remez (Hint to a deeper spiritual meaning): DESTROY leaven (iniquity) from your lives as commanded by our FATHER THE HIGHEST CHIEF!
1 Corinthians 5:6-8:
“Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little leaven works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old leaven that you may be a new batch without leaven—
Once you allow a little iniquity to enter your life it will grow, spread, and rise like yeast or leavening agents, because the iniquity/yeast will spread through the entire batch of dough/body, the same way the leaven of the Pharisees which is their false doctrines will do. I have heard it said and know it to be true, is that iniquity is contagious.
Types of leaven:
The natural form of leaven in bread is Sourdough bread. This is what the scriptures were originally referring to, when it says that they did not have time for the dough to rise.
Exodus 12:34
“And the people took their dough before it was leavened, having their kneading bowls bound up in their garments on their shoulders.”
Sourdough bread is defined as: “Sourdough is an OLD FORM of bread LEAVENING. It relies on a mix of wild yeast (from the air) and lactic acid bacteria that are naturally present in flour, RATHER than baker's yeast, to leaven the dough. It is fermented bread that begins to leaven the longer it sits.” This matches what the Strong’s concordance said which was listed above:
Strongs H7603 says Se’or pronounced “Seh-ore” is “barm or yeast cake (as SWELLING BY FERMENTATION):-leaven.”
An article titled “What is Sourdough? The bread that rises without yeast” written by Alice Zou says “Sourdough is the OLDEST FORM of leavened bread, dating back to Ancient Egypt. BEFORE the use of commercial yeast, ALL BREAD was either unleavened or sourdough. It is thought that sourdough bread was first made on accident when unleavened bread dough was left sitting out, and wild yeast began to grow in the dough. In modern times, sourdough is still popular, and many artisan bakeries still make sourdough bread.”
Then there are the chemical/commercial leavening agents the world is accustomed to today such as: (Yeast, baking powder, baking soda, sodium bicarbonate, horn salt etc.) Again, you can refer to the extensive list that is attached above concerning other modern leavening agents.
When leavening agents (Se’or) are combined with flour it becomes Chametz (Ha-mets) which is baked bread that has risen due to the leavening agents. We are to dispose of any Chametz that you have made yourself including sourdough or any store-bought baked breads, cakes, cake mixes containing leavening agents, also beware of matzah ball soup mixes because they contain sodium bicarbonate which is a leavening agent that we should not be eating during this feast. So, do not trust every kosher label you see, make sure to read the ingredients. To make unleavened bread all you will need is flour, water, and oil, roll it out and bake it.
Also, all of the leavening agents must be thrown away on the FIRST DAY (April 5th) and to be found NOWHERE in your homes:
Exodus 13:7-9:
“Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; and WHATEVER IS LEAVENED IS NOT TO BE SEEN WITH YOU, AND LEAVEN IS NOT TO BE SEEN WITH YOU WITHIN ALL YOUR BORDER. On that day tell your son, ‘I do this because of what YAHWEH did for me when I came out of Egypt.” And it shall be as a sign to you on your hand and as a reminder between your eyes, that the Torah of YAHWEH is to be in your mouth, for with a strong hand YAHWEH has brought you out of Egypt.”
An illustration of what this looks like: We are supposed to stay up all night on Passover as I explained in the Passover message and no one is supposed to leave their house until morning, so when the sun comes up I will put everything in the trashcan and take it to the street which is not on my property/borders. Also, when I used to live in an apartment they had a large dumpster for the entire community to use and everything could be disposed of in there.
Wine is popular to drink on Passover, though I personally opt for grape juice as the fruit of the vine, because most wine contains ADDED yeast or a leavening agents during the fermentation process, which would break the command of no leavening agent. Most companies do say that the yeast is removed during the filtration process, so it is up to the individual to decide how to proceed. I’m just providing information from my strict observance of the command. As always please seek our ELOHIM and see how He leads you on it.
Jubilees 1:26
“And you shall write down for yourself all these Words which I declare unto you on this mountain, the first and the last, which shall come to be in all the divisions of the days in the Law and in the Witness and in the Shabbats and the Jubilees FOREVER, UNTIL I DESCEND AND DWELL WITH THEM FOREVER.”
As always may our Father YAHWEH bless you in YESHUA’s Name!