R. Yehudah says: We search at "light" on the fourteenth, the morning of the fourteenth, and at the time of removal. [That is, we search in one of these three times alone; and after these three times, if one did not search, he may search no longer.] And the sages say: If he did not search at light on the fourteenth, he searches on the fourteenth. If he did not search on the fourteenth, he searches in the midst of the time, [i.e., the sixth hour, the time for removal.] If he did not search in the midst of the time, he searches after the time [until dark. Some explain: "in the midst of the festival" — in the midst of Pesach; "after the festival" — after Pesach, so that "chametz over which Pesach has passed," from which it is forbidden to derive benefit, should not become intermixed with permitted chametz, which was produced after Pesach. And R. Yehudah holds that after removal, that is, after the time that chametz becomes forbidden, he should not search at all, lest he come to eat of it. And the Rabbis say that he should search after the time of removal and we are not afraid that he might come to eat of it, for his entire intent in searching for it is to burn it. The halachah is not in accordance with R. Yehudah.] And what he leaves over (for the morning from his search at night), he should secrete, so that he need not search after it.
Bartenura on Mishnah Pesachim
בודקים אור ארבעה עשר ובארבעה עשר שחרית – This is how it should be understood: In one of these three periods alone, we search [for Hametz], but after these three periods, if he did not [conduct a] search, he does not have to do go back and [conduct a] search.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Pesachim
Introduction
This mishnah continues to prescribe when the house must be searched for chametz.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Pesachim
בתוך המועד – At the sixth hour which is the appointed time for removal [of the Hametz].
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Pesachim
Rabbi Judah says: they search on the evening of the fourteenth and in the morning of the fourteenth, and at the time of destroying. According to the simple interpretation of Rabbi Judah’s opinion, he seems to require that the house be searched three times, once in the evening (as we learned in mishnah one), once in the morning and once at “the time of destroying”. The “time of destroying” is the fifth hour of the 14th of Nissan (in the evening Pesah will begin), at which time all chametz must be destroyed. However, in the Talmud there is an explanation that according to Rabbi Judah one need check only once either in the evening, in the morning or at the time of destroying. If one has not searched by this time, Rabbi Judah says another search should not be done later, lest he comes to find the chametz and eat it. In other words, it is safer not to know about the chametz at all then to find it.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Pesachim
לאחר המועד – until it gets dark. And there are those who explain [the phrase] "בתוך המועד"/the appointed time [as] in the midst of Passover; and [the phrase] "לאחר המועד"/after the appointed time [as] after Passover [entirely], in order that he would not mix/combine for himself Hametz/leavened products that over which Passover had passed (i.e., which had been in the house during Passover) [from which] it is prohibited to derive benefit with permitted Hametz which was made after Passover. And Rabbi Yehuda holds after the removal [of the Hametz], that is after the time of prohibition of Hametz, he should not do a search at all perhaps he will come to eat from it. And the Rabbis say that he should do a search after the time of its prohibition, and we should not be concerned that perhaps he would come to eat from it since his whole essence is moving back and forth to burn it. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Pesachim
But the sages say: if he did not search in the evening of the fourteenth he must search on the fourteenth; if he did not search in [the morning of] the fourteenth, he must search during the festival; if he did not search during the festival, he must search after the festival. The sages hold that it is preferable to search in the evening as we learned in the first mishnah above. However, if he did not search in the evening then he may search later, even during the festival itself. Ultimately, if he has not searched the house during Pesah itself, he must search afterwards since it is forbidden for a Jew to derive any benefit from any chametz that a Jew owned during Pesah. He must search lest there is some chametz that was in his possession during Pesah in order to prevent him from using this chametz after Pesah.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Pesachim
And what he leaves over he must put away in a hidden place, so that he should not need searching after it. If he finds chametz during his search, he should put it away discreetly until he burns it the following morning. Were he to leave it out and then later notice that some of it was missing, he would have to perform another search.
