WHAT IS Leaven? Leaven is an ingredient used in bread-making that creates the holes you see in bread loaves. Leavening agents permeate the dough by releasing gases that cause the entire batch of dough to rise.

In Hebrew/Amharic, leaven is called se’or/ersho (שְׂאוֹר;እርሾ) whereas a leavened product is called k(c)hametz/boka (חָמֵץ; ቦካ). In ancient times, se’or was as a lump of old dough allowed to reach a high level of fermentation (sometimes called “sourdough” or yeast). When the piece of “sourdough” was kneaded together with a mixture of flour and water, it accelerated the rising process and created khametz (today yeast or baking powder function as se’or).

What’s the difference between chametz and se’or? Chametz is food and is edible. You can serve and eat chametz (and often want to! i.e. hallah [חַלָּה] in the Synagogue and khibist [ኅብስት] in…