Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Shoshanna Walker <rosewalk AT concentric.net>]

The word chametz refers to fermentation, not hot and pressed.

Chometz is vinegar

Chamutzim are pickles

Chamutz is sour

Etc.

"hometz" wine - is just simply grapes that have fermented, ie; wine, 
vs. grape juice.

Why do so many people think that they need to "improve" on, or change 
the real meanings of the Torah???

Do you think it makes you smart to make new things up?

Shoshanna



The hametz prohibited on Pesach seems to mean baked bread. The idea 
of leavening is derivative because leaven was often added before 
baking.

The word hametz consists of root cells hm and mtz, hot and pressed.
Confirms Hos7:4: bad baker doesn't watch the dough from kneading 
until it becomes hmtz in the hot oven. Dough is baked in the oven, 
not leavened.

Nazirite should abstain from hometz wine. Hometz, presumably, is 
something that makes something else hametz. Wine - unlike beer - was 
not used for leavening the bread. Like another word for wine, hmr 
(hm-mr, hot and rising), hmtz here means "hot and pressing", and 
refers to agitating effect of wine. That makes sense of the 
prohibition.
Hometz similarly means "violent" in Ps71:4, certainly not "leavened."
The difference between Lev7:12 and 7:13 is now clear: halot matzot 
(pressed cakes) could be oiled, but halot lehem hametz (baked bread) 
are soft and break when oiled.

Reading hametz as "baked" correlates with the tradition. Hebrews in 
Egypt prepared the last bread at least as usual, more probably - as 
festive bread to accompany the meat sacrifice. They had no reason to 
prepare the dough without leaven. They left in haste, and didn't have 
time to bake the bread. They ate the  pressed sun-dried cakes, a 
normal food even now in traditional Egyptian villages.

Please share your opinions about that suggestion. You can read it in 
more details at http://vadimcherny.org/judaism/custom_pesach.htm

Vadim Cherny
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