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Among the most bizarre traditions within Judaism is the Jewish selling of chametz (leaven within bread and foods) to Gentiles and consequent redemption after Pesach (Passover).
According to the fantastic online resource, Chabad.org,
“On the holiday of Passover, we are commanded not to have any chametz in our possession. Any food that is made out of grain that has been allowed to rise (ferment) is chametz. Common chametz items include bread, cakes, breakfast cereals, pastas, many liquors and more. Any chametz that was in the possession of a Jew during Passover is forbidden, even after Passover ends. This applies even if the chametz is locked up and out of sight.
So what is someone to do if they want to hold on to their prized Scotch collection or freezer full of challah?
The solution (as explained in the Code of Jewish Law, O.C. 448) is the “Sale of Chametz,” in which the food is sold to a non-Jew before Passover. After the holiday, the non-Jew sells it back, and it can once again be enjoyed.”
-“Frequently Asked Questions About the Sale of Chametz,” Chabad.org
“Throughout the seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten; no leaven (חמץ) shall be found with you, and no leavening (שאר) shall be found in all your territory.”
-Exodus 13:7
Interestingly, the Hebrew word for ‘leavening,’ ‘seor’ (שאר), has the same letters as the word, ‘Rosh’ (ראש), which means, ‘the head,’ and is used in the Bible as a title for a leader.
“You are standing this day, all of you, before the L-rd your G-d, your heads (rosh-eichem) of your tribes, your elders and your officers, all the men of Israel.”
-Deuteronomy 29:9
In the NT, the Messiah is called, “the head,”
“but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into him who is the head—Messiah— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”
-Ephesians 4:15-16
The Hebrew word for ‘leaven,’ ‘Chametz,’ has the same letters as the word, ‘Tzemach’ (צמח), which is one of the main names in Judaism for the Messiah, which G-d Himself gave through the Prophet Zechariah,
״and say to him, “Thus said G-D of Hosts: Behold, a man called the Branch (Tzemach) shall branch out from the place where he is, and he shall build the Temple of G-D.״
-Zechariah 6:12
“What is the name of the King Messiah? Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: The L-rd (Y-H-V-H) is his name, as it is stated: “This is his name that they will call him: The L-rd is our righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:6). As Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: It is good for a province when its name is like that of its king, and the name of its king is like that of its G-d. It is good for a province when its name is like that of its king, as it is written: “The name of the city from that day shall be: The L-rd is there” (Ezekiel 48:35). The name of its king like the name of its G-d, as it is stated: “This is his name that they will call him: The L-rd is our righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:6).
-Eikhah Rabbah 1:51
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: His name is Tzemacḥ, as it is stated: “Behold a man, Tzemaḥ is his name, and he will sprout [yitzmacḥ]” (Zechariah 6:12).”
“He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my G-d, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of my G-d and the name of the city of my G-d, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my G-d, and my new name.”
-Yeshua, Revelation 3:12
“Therefore G-d also has highly exalted him [Messiah] and given him the name which is above every name,”
-Philippians 2:9
Even though the Messiah also receives G-d’s Name, as Jerusalem does, ‘Tzemach’ is such an important name for the Messiah, that the main blessing in the Amidah (Shemoneh Esrei) prayer about the Messiah, son of David, begins like this,
״The (Et) sprout (Tzemach) of David, Your servant, may you speedily cause to flourish and exalt his power with Your deliverance. We hope all day for Your deliverance. Blessed are You, Adonoy, Who causes the power of salvation to sprout.״
-Fifteenth Blessing, “Malchut Beit David,” Amidah
Not only does this blessing call the Messiah, ‘Tzemach,’ but it calls him, ‘Et Tzemach,’ with the first word of the blessing being the untranslatable, ‘Et’ (את), which is spelled with the letters, ‘Alef’ (א) and ‘Tav’ (ת).
“I am the Alef and the Tav, Beginning and End, the First and the Last. Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the Tree of Life, and may enter through the gates into the city [Jerusalem].”
-Revelation 22:13-14
The Sages said that just as the doubling of the word, ‘Pakod,’ used by Joseph (Yosef), was the ‘code-word’ of the Redemption from Egypt, so the doubling of the word, ‘Tzemach,’ will be the ‘code word’ used for the Final Redemption.
“With [the doubled letters of] “Pê” “Pê” Israel was redeemed from Egypt, as it is said, “I have surely visited you, (Paḳôd Paḳadti) and (seen) that which is done to you in Egypt, and I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt” (Ex. 3:16, 17). With [the letter] “Zaddi” “Zaddi” the Holy One, blessed be He, in the future will redeem Israel from the oppression of the kingdoms, and He will say to them, I have caused a branch to spring forth [Tzamach Tzamachti] for you, as it is said, “Behold, the man whose name is (Tzemach) the Branch; and he shall grow up (yitzmach) || out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the L-rd” (Zech. 6:12). These letters were delivered only to our father Abraham. Our father Abraham delivered them to Isaac, and Isaac (delivered them) to Jacob, and Jacob delivered the mystery of the Redemption to Joseph, as it is said, “But G-d will surely visit (Paḳôd yiphḳôd) you” (Gen. 50. 24). Joseph his son delivered the secret of the Redemption to his brethren. Asher, the son of Jacob, delivered the mystery of the Redemption to Serach his daughter. When Moses and Aaron came to the elders of Israel and performed the signs in their sight, the elders of Israel went to Serach, the daughter of Asher, and they said to her: A certain man has come, and he has performed signs in our sight, thus and thus. She said to them: There is no reality in the signs. They said to her: He said “Paḳôd yiphḳôd”—”G-d will surely visit you” (ibid.). She said to them: He is the man who will redeem Israel in the future from Egypt, for thus did I hear, (“Paḳôd Paḳadti”) “I have surely visited you” (Ex. 3:16). Forthwith the people believed in their G-d and in His messenger, as it is said, “And the people believed, and when they heard that the L-rd had visited the children of Israel” (Ex. 4:31).״
-Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 48:17 (Gerald Friedlander, 1916)
Being that the word ‘Tzemach’ is the same Hebrew letters as the word for ‘Chametz,’ what other connection do these code letters for the Final Redeemer share with Joseph?
Both were sold by Jews to Gentiles.
When some of Joseph’s brothers wanted to have him killed, it was Yehudah (Judah) who wanted to sell Joseph to Gentiles.
“And Judah said to his brothers: What profit if we kill our brother and conceal his death?
Let us go and sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let our hand not be against him, for he is our brother, our flesh; and his brothers acquiesced.
And Midianite merchants passed by; and they [Joseph’s brothers] pulled and raised Joseph out of the pit, and they sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver and they brought Joseph to Egypt.”
-Genesis 37:26-28
This was not the first time that the tribe of Yehudah would be involved in selling out his brother to Gentiles. Samson, who according to the Sages fulfilled the role of Moshiach Ben Yosef (Messiah son of Joseph) in his generation, was also sold out by Yehudah.
“Then the Philistines came up and encamped in Judah and made a raid on Lehi. The men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” They said, “We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he did to us.” Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and they said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then have you done to us?” He replied, “As they did to me, so I have done to them.” They said to him, “We have come down to bind you, so that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines.” Samson answered them, “Swear to me that you yourselves will not kill me.” They said to him, “No, we will only bind you and give you into their hands; we will not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.”
-Judges 15:9-13
Here we see that Yehudah sells out Moshiach Ben Yosef to the foreign occupying power over Israel in order to appease them.
After the division of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah, G-d delivered the King of Judah, Ahaz, into the hands of Israel and Syria. Instead of repenting of his wickedness and trusting in G-d’s salvation, like his son Hezekiah after him, he sold Israel into the hands of the Gentile empire of Assyria. As a result of this, the Northern Kingdom, which is identified with Yosef and Ephraim, was eventually led captive into exile until this day, as the ‘Ten Lost Tribes.’
״In those days the L-rd began to send Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah… So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who rise up against me.” And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the L-rd, and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and sent it as a present to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria heeded him; for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and took it, carried its people captive to Kir, and killed Rezin… Now the king of Assyria went throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.”
-2 Kings 15:37, 16:7-9, 17:5-6
As in the cases of Joseph, Samson, and Ahaz, Yeshua (Ben Joseph) was also sold by Yehudah (Judas) and given into the hands of the Gentiles, and the foreign occupiers of Israel.
“Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him to you?” And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver. So from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.”
-Matthew 26:14-16
The price that the Priests paid Yehuda for Yeshua was said to be in fulfillment of this prophecy,
“Then I said to them, “If you are satisfied, pay me my wages; if not, don’t.” So they weighed out my wages, thirty shekels of silver— the noble sum that I was worth in their estimation. G-D said to me, “Deposit it in the treasury.” And I took the thirty shekels and deposited it in the treasury in the House of G-D.
Then I cleft in two my second staff, Unity, in order to annul the brotherhood between Yehudah and Israel [Joseph].”
-Zechariah 11:12-14
G-d seemingly tells the Prophet Zechariah, who is a Cohen (Priest), to deposit the money he receives in the Temple treasury, but we are told that when Yehudah tried to return the money to the priests, they didn’t accept it in the treasury, because it was ‘blood money,’ but rather the money was used for the purchase of a potter’s field.
“Then Yehudah, his betrayer, seeing that he had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.”
And they said, “What is that to us? You see to it!”
Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the Temple and departed, and went and hanged himself.
But the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because they are the price of blood.” And they consulted together and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in.”
-Matthew 27:3-7
The only other place which discusses this purchase confirms that the Priests did not take back the money (deposit it in the treasury), but rather that the purchased field belonged to Yehudah.
““Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Yehudah, who became a guide for those who arrested Yeshua, for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle, and all his bowels gushed out. This became known to all the residents of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their language Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)”
-Acts 1:16-19
In Zechariah’s prophecy, the priest is asking to be given the thirty pieces of silver, in order to put the money in the Temple treasury, as G-d spoke. So why is he, as a priest, asking for the money, if that amount of money was used instead to purchase a field for Yehudah?
Ariel Cohen Alloro, a Priest and long-time disciple of Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, says that just as Yeshua was sold by Yehudah to the Priests and the money was not actually returned, so must Yeshua be redeemed from the Priests with money. This means that the Priest Zechariah is prophetically asking for the money in order to redeem Yeshua from the Priests.
What precedent do we have that one who belongs to the Priests must be redeemed?
The Redemption of the Firstborn.
What belongs to the Priests cannot belong to the People of Israel, since the Priests have no share with Israel and belong to G-d. Since the firstborn were supposed to be and belong to the Priests, they must be redeemed with money from the Priests, according to the Torah. If they are not redeemed, they belong to the Priests and the parents have no rights to the boy. So too, Yeshua cannot return to Israel until he is redeemed with the money for which he was sold. The Messiah himself must be redeemed.
Since he cannot yet return to his people and does not belong to them, he is in exile amongst the Gentiles, just as Joseph and Samson were.
The Sages say that the same amount of money that was used to sell Joseph to Egypt, is the same amount of money that the Torah requires to redeem the firstborn from the Priests. Not only that, but they also say that the annual giving of the half-shekel to the Temple treasury alludes to and is itself an atonement for the selling of Joseph.
״The Holy One blessed be He said: You sold Rachel’s son for twenty maot, which are five sela’im. That is why each and every one of you will separate as the value of his son five sela’im of the Tyrian maneh. Rabbi Yehuda bar Simon said: The Holy One blessed be He said to the tribes: You sold Rachel’s son for twenty silver pieces. Consequently, each and every one of you received a beka per person. That is what is written: “One beka per head, one half-shekel” (Exodus 38:26).״
-Bereshis Rabba 84:18
״AND JOSEPH’S BRETHREN WENT DOWN — It does not call them “the sons of Jacob” (as in 5:5), thus suggesting that they regretted having sold him and that they had made up their mind to behave towards him in a brotherly manner and to redeem him at whatever price people might fix for them to pay (Midrash Tanchuma, Miketz 8).״
-Rashi on Genesis 42:3
This why Jews sell Chametz (Tzemach) to the Gentiles, in order to redeem it again. This is also why Chametz is the main offering of Shavuot at the Temple, fifty days from Pesach. The Sages say that the only sacrifice that will remain in the future is the Todah (‘Thanksgiving’) offering, the only regular sacrifice which includes Chametz.
“Rabbi Pinḥas, Rabbi Levi, and Rabbi Yoḥanan in the name of Rabbi Menaḥem of Galya: In the future, all the offerings will be abolished but the thanks offering will not be abolished.”
-Vayikra Rabba 9:7
“And also he [Yeshu] himself was certainly the secret of Mashiach ben Yoseph…”
-Rabbi Moshe David Valle, Likkutim 1:242
The Sages say that the sole reason that Israel was in exile and slavery in Egypt (the prototype of all future exiles) was for the selling of Joseph. So too, the reason for the last and final exile of the Jewish people is for the selling of the Messiah, son of Joseph. Until he is redeemed from the Priesthood, the Messiah cannot belong to the Jewish people. According to the Torah, he is forbidden to the Jewish people just as chametz is during Pesach.
May we merit to bring and see the Ultimate Redemption immediately, with G-d’s help. Amen.
Eye To Zion 
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