…Put out ten pieces of bread for Bedikas Chometz?
Um… because it’s a fun way to finish cleaning for Pesach? Ok yes, that’s true, but of course it’s deeper than that! It’s an old and heiligeh minhag. Technically you are yotzei without putting out bread; in order to avoid making a bracha livatalah, we put out bread. But it MUST be deeper!
Why 10 pieces? Many seforim quote the Arizal who says that the ten pieces of bread correspond to the ten Sefiros – a concept in Kabbalah that refers to the ten types of forces in the world. Rav Moshe Weinberger explains that the Zohar says the yetzer hara is here to trick us. The Zohar uses the word, לפתות. That word is similar to word for bread, פת. We know that chometz bread represents the yetzer hara. Meaning, we put out the pieces of bread to show the yetzer hara’s attempts to trick us.
But he explains – the goal is just to play “hide and seek.” The yetzer hara doesn’t stand in our way. He is there to challenge us. It’s like he is saying, Can you find me? Can you beat me? That’s why really we aren’t supposed to hide them too well – they should be easily found. We can beat the yetzer hara! We remind ourselves that really the yetzer hara is just a little Chi-chi-wawa! (I’m assuming you know what I’m referring to… as this is the TYH Nekuda Tova 🙂 ) Although he sometimes looks so scary.
We put out ten because even if we don’t realize it, we are helping our neshamos in many aspects, represented by the ten different forces in the world, as we search for the ten pieces.
So go enjoy! And while you’re at it, ask Hashem for help in overcoming challenges, large and small!
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 30.