leaven is leaven
The word "yeast" comes from the Sanskrit 'yas' meaning "to seethe or boil". Yeast is a living organism and is in the air around us. It is a member of the fungus family and is a single-celled fungi of which there are about 160 different species. Baker's yeast as well as brewer's yeast belong to the Saccharomyces cerevisiae species. Louis Pasteur in the 1850's is credited with first discovering and understanding the fermentation process which led to the development and cultivation of the yeast we use today.
Baker's yeast, like baking powder and baking soda, is used to leavened baked goods
(breads, Danish pastries, brioche, croissants). The difference between these two leaveners is that baking powder/soda react chemically to produce the carbon dioxide that makes the baked goods rise. Yeast, on the other hand, is a living organism and the carbon dioxide it produces is the result of the yeast feeding on the dough.
leaven (according to dictionary.com)
–noun
1. a substance, as yeast or baking powder, that causes fermentation and expansion of dough or batter.
2. fermented dough reserved for producing fermentation in a new batch of dough.
3. an element that produces an altering or transforming influence.
I have been thinking about this topic for a long time. Then last week as I came across a messianic website Then I suddenly remembered about one evening in 1988 or 1989 . A friend of mine came over to give me something in a container. I cannot remember what she called it, but it was a bread starter. It was like some bread dough in a small container. She told me to use it to bake some bread but to save a portion of the new batch before I baked a loaf of bread. She said that this bread dough started long ago (sort of like chain letters??) and it hadn't been broken. She wanted me to give the saved portion to someone else so that she could do the same and give a new portion to another person. Just like #2 of the Dictionary.com definition:
2. fermented dough reserved for producing fermentation in a new batch of dough.
It looks like Amish people do this.
Now I can understand the concept of not using the old batch into new batch a little more. Just like we are made a brand new christian when we believe in Jesus, the old cannot be there. We are brand new, born again. Just like we cannot put the new wine in the old skin. Our bread needs a brand new ingredients, not to be mixed with the old. Yeast does the function the bread starter. But the concept of 'old' can be better understood with the 'bread starter' method because if the yeast if everywhere in the air, I don't know which one is old.
Matthew 16:5-6 (King James Version)
5And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.
6Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
Here's my thoughts. My friends' bread starter got started long time ago and it continued, adding little more of the new batch. Jesus didn't want us to continue our old way like Pharisees and the Sadducees' traditions. The law is over.
Galatians 3:19 " Why, then, was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised. God gave his law through angels to Moses, who was the mediator between God and the people."
Our Father is so wonderful.
