Exodus 12:39

And they divided the dough which they brought out of Mizraim, which they had carried on their heads, and it was baked for them by the heat of the sun, (into) unleavened cakes, because it had not fermented; for the Mizraee had thrust them out, neither could they delay; and it was sufficient for them to eat until the fifteenth of the month Ijar; because they had not prepared provision for the way.

AND THEY BAKED UNLEAVENED CAKES OF THE DOUGH. The meaning thereof is that they baked unleavened bread of the dough because of the precept which they were commanded: There shall be no leaven found in your homes, for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel.

BECAUSE THEY WERE THRUST OUT OF EGYPT. The sense of it is that they baked the dough on the road because they had been driven out of Egypt, and could not wait to bake it in the city and carry the unleavened bread. Therefore they carried the dough, and their kneading-troughs were bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders, and they hurried and baked it before it was leavened on the road, or in Succoth, where they arrived in a short while as our Rabbis have said.

עוגות, for the term bread applies only to dough which had been baked in an oven. [According to our author on Exodus 29,2 anything baked in an oven is called לחם, bread, even if it contains a fair amount of oil. Ed] Seeing that this “bread” had not been baked in an oven but was baked by the sun, it is not called לחם, but עוגה, “cake.”

כי לא חמץ, it had not become fermented. This formulation, i.e. as an adjective, is also found in connection with Pharaoh when the Torah spoke about כבד לב פרעה, usually translated as “Pharaoh’s heart was tough,” when what is meant it that Pharaoh toughened his heart. Similar constructions are found in Genesis 27,14 אהב אביו, “his father had come to like.” The same is true of Kings I 1,1 והמלך דוד זקן, which though we normally translate this as “and King David was old,” really means “King David had allowed himself to age.” These formulations which sound like mere adjectives, are more than that, they describe what led to the present state of something or somebody.

וגם צידה (לדרך) לא עשו להם, this is why in short order they would have to complain of the need for bread and water. [seeing that they had not been given an opportunity to take along provisions. Ed.]

כי לא חמץ, it had not had time to rise and ferment due to the short period of time it took to get from Ramses which was still part of Egypt to Sukkot which was already beyond the boundary of Egypt. Our sages in the Haggadah shel Pessach described the experience in the following words: “the dough of our forefathers did not have time to rise and become leavened during the brief time it took for the Lord our G’d to manifest Himself and to redeem them.” The reference of the author of the Haggadah is to the appearance of the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire as soon as the Israelites had reached Sukkot and left Egyptian soil behind the, This was the manifestation of the Lord G’d of whom he speaks. The Torah there begins to speak of G’d walking in front of the Israelites (Exodus 13,21).

כי לא חמץ, “for it had not become leavened.” According to the view expressed by one sage in the Talmud, tractate Peaachim folio 28, that the Israelites observed Passover in Egypt only for a single day, this makes perfect sense; however, according to the opinion that Israelites had been commanded to eat unleavened bread at that time for seven days, what is the meaning of the words: כי גורשו, “for they had been expelled?” We must explain what is written as follows: when the Torah writes that they baked the dough, that they did so immediately because these loaves were not to be allowed to become leavened. On top of that they had been unable to equip themselves with provisions because they had been expelled, i.e. had been under great pressure and could not tarry any longer. Nonetheless, the word וגם is a little difficult, although we find unnecessary letters וalso in Psalms 76,7, and many other places.