פירוש על פסחים 1:5

שתי חלות – of leaven.

Introduction This mishnah continues to deal with the time when chametz is burned.

של תודה פסולות – which were invalidated for use by being kept overnight, since because there loaves of thanksgiving [offerings] on the thirteenth of Nisan, for everyone who had a thanksgiving offering to bring brought it on the thirteenth, they were invalidated for use by being kept overnight for the morning of the fourteenth. The thanksgiving loaves were forty Hallot, ten of them were leavened. And the thanksgiving offering were eaten day and night, and if they would bring them on the fourteenth, the ones of Hametz would not be eaten other than until the sixth hour, for it is forbidden to bring a sacrifice on the day when the time for their being eaten would be reduced, for one does not wittingly cause bring holy things (i.e., sacred meat) to a place where the unfit things are burnt (see Mishnah Zevahim, Chapter 8, Mishnah 3). Therefore, whomever had to bring a thanksgiving sacrifice would bring it on the thirteenth, but would not be able to bring it on the fourteenth and all the more so during Passover, for they would be invalidated for use by being kept overnight on the fourteenth day since for they would not be eaten so much, and because of this, invalidated ones were given there, for since they were not fit, no one would give them to invalidate them by their hands.

Rabbi Judah further said: two unfit loaves of thanksgiving used to lie on the roof of the [Temple] portico: as long as they lay [there] all the people would eat [chametz]. When one was removed, they would keep it in suspense, neither eating nor burning [it]. When both were removed, all the people began to burn [their chametz]. Rabbi Judah relates that in the Temple they made a sign which would let the people know until what time they could eat the chametz. They would put their two loaves of bread which were used in the thanksgiving offering (see Leviticus 7:13). They would use only loaves which were unfit for use (for instance, the time in which they could be eaten had passed), because they wouldn’t take fit loaves and leave them there to intentionally render them inedible. The rest is simple: the loaves were left there until the beginning of the fourth hour, the time until which Rabbi Judah holds one can eat chametz. When one was removed at the beginning of the fifth hour, they would cease eating their chametz, but not yet burn it. When the second was removed, they would begin to burn their chametz at the beginning of the sixth hour.

שמונחות – there until the time of getting rid of [the leavened products] they would be burned.

Rabban Gamaliel says: non-sacred chametz may be eaten the whole of the four [hours] and terumah the whole of the five [hours] and they burn [them] at the beginning of the sixth [hour]. Rabban Gamaliel presents an opinion which lies somewhere between that of Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Judah from the previous mishnah. Rabban Gamaliel agrees with Rabbi Judah that non-sacred chametz, i.e. chametz which was not terumah, can only be eaten through the fourth hour. However, he holds that terumah may be eaten through the end of the fifth hour. This is to try to prevent as much as possible the need to burn terumah, which according to halakhah should not be burnt unnecessarily. Rabban Gamaliel agrees that they burn all of the chametz in the sixth hour.

על גג האצטבא – that was on the Temple Mount, in order that they should see them there as a sign.

אחת מהן – at the beginning of the fifth hour, an agent of the Jewish court would come and take one and all the people would recognize that the time of the fifth hour had arrived and would hold them in suspense.

ותרומת כל חמש – for it is forbidden to lose holy meat by one’s hands all the while that one can eat them.

ושורפין בתחילת שש – for now it is certain that most people erred between the sixth and the seventh hour. But the Halakha is not according to Rabban Gamaliel.