RABBINIC PERSPECTIVES: Why Does God Hate Yeast?

This session in our new series will explore the issues surrounding one of the central, widely accepted values of Pesach: the prohibition against consuming foods and drinks produced through leavening. While these consumables are most often associated with bread products, they also include items such as beer. The common element is yeast, something humans tend to enjoy and appreciate, but which, in the biblical narrative, is viewed quite differently.

Our core text for discussion will be Exodus 12. Rashi famously identifies this chapter as the true starting point of the Torah, suggesting that the Book of Genesis and Exodus 1–11 function, in a sense, as a prologue. Yet both Genesis and the opening chapters of
Exodus depict a universe radically different—two steps removed—from the worldviews of (1) classical rabbinic Judaism and (2) the modern world as we understand it.

So, while one might say that God hates yeast, the deeper question we will explore is this: What is the nature of the world that God loves, as described in the Torah?