פירוש על פסחים 2:5

ידי חובתו – because of the obligation of [eating] Matzah on the first night for he is obligated to eat Matzah as it is written (Exodus 12:18): “[In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month] at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread…”

Introduction This mishnah lists those types of grains with which one can make the obligatory matzah on Pesah. There is a duel function to this list anything which can be used to make matzah can also become chametz. Hence, this mishnah also indirectly teaches us which types of grain must be removed before Pesah.

בחטים ובשעורים – but not rice, millet and other species, as it is written (Deuteronomy 16:3): “You shall not eat anything leavened with it; for seven days thereafter you shall eat unleavened bread…” things that can become leavened, a person fulfills his religious obligation in consuming Matzah/unleavened bread, excluding rice and millet and other species that do not become leavened, but towards decay.

These are the things with which they fulfill their obligation on Pesah: with wheat, with barley, with spelt, with rye, and with oats. This is the list of grains from which one may make the obligatory matzah. Note that rice is not on the list. According to the mishnah, matzah may not be made out of rice nor does rice become chametz.

ובדמאי ובמעשר ראשון שנטלה תרומתו – all of these for what reason are they needed? They are explained in the Tractate Shabbat, chapter eighteen (Mishnah 1 – “You may clear away – on the Sabbath-even four or five piles”).

And they fulfill [the obligation] with demai, with first tithe whose terumah has been separated, and with second tithe or sanctified property which have been redeemed; We have encountered this list on several occasions already (Shabbat 18:1; Eruvin 3:2; Sanhedrin 8:2; Makkot 3:2). It is basically a list of foods which can be eaten, at least according to toraitic law. The opposite is in section four those foods are prohibited and hence one cannot use them to fulfill the obligation to eat matzah.

והכהנים בחלה ובתרומה – for you might have thought that we require Matzah/unleavened bread that is worth and appropriate for all people, but Hallah and priest’s due are not appropriate for foreigners (i.e., non-Kohanim), it comes to teach us [that this is not the case].

And priests [can fulfill their obligation] with hallah and terumah. Hallah (which a person must separate when he makes dough) and terumah are given to the priest, who may use them to make his matzah. A non-priest cannot eat them and hence cannot use them for matzah.

חלות תודה ורקיקי נזיר אין יוצאין בהן – even though they are fully Matzah, as it is written (Exodus 12:17): “You shall observe the [Feast of] Unleavened Bread”, [we require] Matzah that is preserved for the purpose of [consuming] Matzah, excluding those which are not preserved for the purpose of [consuming] Matzah, but for the purpose of a sacrifice.

But not with untithed produce, nor with first tithe whose terumah has not been separated, nor with second tithe or sanctified property which have not been redeemed. The opposite list of that in section two.

למכור בשוק יוצאין בהם – for everything can be sold in the market, for he says, if they are sold, they are sold, and if not, I will myself with eat it as the Matzah [in fulfillment] of the Mitzvah.

Loaves of the thanksgiving offering and the wafers of a nazirite: If he made them for himself, they cannot fulfill [their obligation] with them; If he made them to sell in the market, they can fulfill [their obligation] with them. These loaves and wafers are not chametz and hence might potentially be usable for matzah. The mishnah rules that if he made them for his own personal use then they are already sanctified and one cannot use them for matzah. In other words, although they physically fulfill the requirements of matzah, since they were sanctified for another use they cannot count also as matzah on Pesah. However, if he is a merchant and made them to sell to those who need to bring sacrifices, then they have not yet become sanctified and they may be used as obligatory matzah on Pesah.