“Therefore, if a man does not annul (the leaven) before the sixth hour, and afterwards from the sixth hour and onwards should find leaven, which was on his mind and in his heart, but he forgot it at the hour of removal, and did not remove it; Behold, such an one has transgressed the command, ‘It shall not be seen with thee’ (Exod. xiii. 7), and also the command, ‘It shall not be found in your houses’ (Exod. xii. 19), for he neither removed it nor annulled it.” (Hilchoth Chometz, c. iii. 8.) Now, can you believe that this decision is from God who searcheth the heart? Can you believe that a man who had it in his mind and heart to remove a piece of leaven according to God’s commandment, but whilst removing the rest forgot this one piece, is to be brought in guilty, simply because he did not observe a mere form, which God has nowhere commanded? Or that he would not have been guilty, if he had repeated some half dozen words prescribed by men, sinners like himself? Very different is the declaration of God himself, יען אשר היה, עם לבבך “Because it was in thine heart” (1 Kings viii. 18): he accepted the intention, and gave it the blessing of obedience. The Rabbinic decision is, therefore, not of God, and goes far towards overthrowing the claims of the whole oral law. But the Rabbies were not satisfied with this invention of בטול חמץ annulling the leaven, they have imposed upon the consciences of their followers another observance, utterly unknown to Moses, and that is בדיקת חמץ, the searching for leaven. אור לארבעה עשר בנסן קודם צאת הכוכבים בודקין את החמץ לאור הנר של שעוה היחידי , ומשהגיע זמנו אסור לעשות שום מלאכה ולא לאכול ולא ללמוד ׃ “On the evening before the 14th of Nisan, before the coming out of the stars, they are to search for the leaven by the light of a single wax taper: and when the time draws near, it is unlawful to do any work, or to eat, or to study.” (Passover Prayers, fol. 1, col. 2.) For this command there is evidently no foundation in the law of Moses. It is confessedly מדברי סופרים of the words of the Scribes, and yet the most minute directions are given, and the greatest attention required, as if it had been from God himself, and various cases supposed where a second search is necessary, as for instance:— אם ראה עכבר שנכנס לבית וחמץ בפיו אחר בדיקה צריך לבדוק פעם שניה אף על פי שמצא פירורִן באמצע הבית אין אומרין כבר אכל אותה הפת במקום זה והרי הפירורין אלא חוששין שמא הניחה בחור או בחלון ואלו הפירורין שם היו ולפיכך חוזר ובודק , אם לא מצא כלום הרי זה בודק כל הבית ואם מצא אותה הפת שנטל העכבר ונכנס אין צריך בדיקה ׃