Special Laws of Matzot - Judaism - Israel National News

The following is an excerpt from a forthcoming work by Rabbi Melamed, Peninei Halacha Pesach, translated into English. The entire volume will, God willing, appear in time for next Pesach.

Water That Has Stayed Overnight

The sages prohibited kneading the dough for Pesach matzot with lukewarm water. The warmth hastens the

Some hold that one should not take water from a faucet and leave it out overnight for baking the matzot.

fermentation process, increasing the risk of the dough becoming chametz if the workers are not especially quick in kneading the dough and baking the matzot. Chazal forbade kneading the dough even with regular cold water found in cisterns and in springs, lest the ground, that had absorbed the heat of the sun, had warmed the water. Therefore they required drawing the water before nightfall and keeping it overnight in a cool place. Such water is called mayim shelanu (water that has stayed overnight). This is the water that is used to prepare matzot for Pesach (Shulchan Arukh 495, 1 and 3).(6)

A problem arose in hot countries. Wherever they would keep the water it would warm up a bit, while, to the contrary, if they left the water in the springs it would stay cooler. Nevertheless, the halachic ruling is that they have to leave the water out overnight, in accordance with the Sages’ original enactment; if, as a result, the water warmed up a bit, they must put it in refrigerators or in walk-in coolers (Mikraei Kodesh, Pesach 2, 7).

Some hold that one should not take water from a faucet and leave it out overnight for baking the matzot, since the water might be from an open reservoir and may have been warmed by the sun. Furthermore, there is concern that the chlorine dissolved in the water might hasten the fermentation process (She’arim Metzuyanim Bahalacha, 109, 3). In actual practice this possibility is of no concern. Indeed, there are a few meticulous people who make hand-made matzot who are scrupulous about drawing the water from wells or springs, but in the machine-made matzah factories they take regular water from the municipal system, filter it thoroughly, and leave it in a cool place all night; that is their “mayim shelanu” (the custom of my teacher and rabbi, Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, was to prepare mayim shelanu using water from the faucet).

Preventing Fermentation During Kneading

The flour for matzot is ground at least one day before kneading it into dough, since the grinding heats the flour slightly, increasing the risk that the dough will ferment (Shulhan Arukh 453, 9).

No salt or pepper is added to the dough, since they might warm the dough, increasing the risk of fermentation (Shulhan Arukh 455, 5-6).

Lekhatchila, one should not make a matzah dough with more than 1,666 grams of flour (that is the least amount that obliges one to separate challah from dough with a bracha). A dough that is larger than that is difficult for one person to knead thoroughly and quickly, so parts of the dough may begin to ferment. Bedieved, if a person kneaded a larger quantity, the matzah is kosher as long as the dough did not rest for eighteen minutes and no signs of fermentation appeared in it (Shulchan Arukh 456, 1-2).

When there are several people engaged in kneading, flattening and rolling out the dough, some authorities hold it is permissible to knead larger quantities, and, indeed, many customarily do this. Even so, initially it is proper to be stringent and not to knead more than the measure that the Sages said (Mishna Berura 456, 7).

No salt or pepper is added to the dough.

When the kneading is done by machine, it is customary even initially to be lenient and to knead large volumes of dough.

One may not knead the dough in a hot place, since the heat hastens the fermenting. Therefore one may not knead outside in the sun or in a sunny place. Sometimes it gets hot even on a cloudy day, so that even if the sun is not shining, one may knead the dough neither outside nor inside a building opposite the windows, lest the heat pour in through them. Obviously one may not knead in a place that is heated by the oven (Shulchan Arukh 459, 1). Someone even gave a measure for the heat, saying one may not knead in a place where the temperature is thirty degrees Celsius or higher (Sefer Matzot mitzvah Chapter 7, note 29). Bedieved, if they kneaded the dough in a hot place but did not see any signs of fermentation in the dough or the matzah – then the matzah is kosher for Pesach (Shulchan Arukh 459, 5).

Lekhatchila, one may not stop working the dough for even a moment (Shulchan Arukh 459, 2). If the hands of the person kneading the dough heat up, he should cool them in cold water. There are some who are scrupulous to cool their hands in water from time to time in any event as they are kneading (Mishna Berura 459, 27).

More Laws About the Matzot

The oven should be heated thoroughly, so that the dough begins to bake immediately. If the heat is low, the dough might begin to ferment before it bakes. Clearly one may not bake the matzot in the heat of the sun. If one did so, then even if the heat was very strong and it seems clear that the dough did not ferment, nevertheless one cannot use this matzah to fulfill the mitzvah of eating matzah, for matzah has been called “bread of poverty” in the Torah, and what is baked in the sun is not properly called bread (Shulchan Arukh Harav 461, 6).

It is not necessary, however, to bake the bread specifically in the flames of the fire, but rather even if the flames burn under a metal or earthenware plate, as long as the plate is roasting hot - one may bake on it (Shulchan Arukh 461, 2).

Similarly, one may bake in an electric oven whose heating elements are glowing hot, for that is considered like fire. But matzot that were baked in a microwave oven are disqualified from being used as the mitzvah of eating matzah, since they were not baked by fire. Some say they are kosher, for no early source indicates that the

One cannot fulfill one’s obligation with a stolen or a robbed matzah.

matzot must be baked specifically with fire (see Mikraei Kodesh by Harari, p. 335 – Rabbi Auerbach disqualified such matzot, and Rabbi Yisraeli held them to be kosher).

One may not decorate the matzah with pictures, lest they wait to draw the picture and, meanwhile, the matzah ferments. One may not make a thick matzah (8 cm) on Pesach lest the fire does not bake it through and through sufficiently and it begins to ferment (Shulchan Arukh 460, 4-5). However, one may make a matzah that is a little thinner than a tefah (a hand-breadth).

The Ashkenazic custom is to make the matzot thin and hard, so that the heat goes through them thoroughly and there is hardly any risk that the matzah will ferment (Rama 460, 4). Some Sephardim make the matzah about as thick as a finger. Others, like the Ashkenazim, make them thin like wafers since they usually bake them before Pesach, and, if they don’t make them thin like wafers, they won’t last properly (Kaf Hachaim 460, 44).

One cannot fulfill one’s obligation with a stolen or a robbed matzah (Shulchan Arukh 454, 4). Sometimes a purchaser takes the matzot into his possession without paying immediately, but if the seller showed that he wants to receive payment immediately, the purchaser must be careful to pay as the seller requested. If the seller seeks the buyer out, seeking payment for the matzot, and the purchaser sends him away with a “come back later”, then the purchaser cannot fulfill his obligation with those matzot, because they do not belong to him (Mishna Berura 454, 15).

Notes

6) One who did not prepare for himself mayim shelanu should not bake matzot in regular water, but should suffice with eating fruits and vegetables and other foods in the course of the holiday. However, if he won’t have matzah for fulfilling the positive biblical commandment of eating a kazayit of matzah on the night of the Seder, he may use regular cold water to bake the matzah, so as not to refrain from fulfilling this Torah commandment (Mishna Berura 455, 36).

Judaism	Kislev 5, 5770 / November 22, '09