The Mysterious Matzah

However, the Shulchan Aruch adds an important limitation. Even if egg matzah is baked with the proper intention, it cannot be used to fulfill the mitzvah of eating matzah at the Seder. The Torah requires that the matzah be considered “lechem oni,” the bread of the poor. Once fruit juice is added, the product is considered matzah ashirah, “rich man’s bread.”

The Rema notes that the custom in his communities was to refrain from eating egg matzah on Pesach unless there was a compelling need, such as for the elderly or the ill. This became the generally accepted Ashkenazi custom.

Three explanations are offered for the Rema’s stringency:

1. We must take into account the minority view among certain Rishonim who hold that dough made with fruit juice can, in fact, become chametz to some degree.

2. Egg matzah might be confused with regular matzah, leading someone to mistakenly eat egg matzah on Seder night to fulfill the mitzvah.

3. Although fruit juice alone does not cause chametz, the addition of even a small amount of water does, and the combination of water and fruit juice can cause dough to become chametz even faster than flour and water alone. In such a case, the baker would not even have the usual eighteen-minute window.

Because of these concerns, the Ashkenazi custom is to avoid eating egg matzah during Pesach.

Nevertheless, this custom does not extend to owning egg matzah on Pesach. Moreover, while we stop eating chametz after the fourth halachic hour of the day on Erev Pesach, some poskim permit egg matzah to be eaten until midday or even until the tenth hour of the day.

The classification of egg matzah as matzah ashirah also leads to an interesting leniency regarding Erev Pesach. Some have the custom not to eat matzah for thirty days before Pesach, while others stop eating matzah from Rosh Chodesh Nissan. However, everyone agrees that eating matzah on Erev Pesach itself is forbidden. This is not merely a custom; it is a rabbinic decree.

Yet the Shulchan Aruch rules that this decree does not apply to matzah ashirah. Since egg matzah tastes different from regular matzah and cannot be used to fulfill the mitzvah at the Seder, one may eat egg matzah on Erev Pesach. Indeed, Tosafos in Pesachim records that Rabbeinu Tam himself would eat matzah ashirah on Erev Pesach even after the time when chametz had already become forbidden.

There are, however, two important caveats.

First, the Vilna Gaon notes that the Rambam, in his commentary to the Mishnah, seems to indicate that one should avoid eating any matzah ashirah on Erev Pesach. The Sha’ar HaTziyon cites this view. Interestingly, the Kovetz Halachos quotes Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky, shlit”a, as saying that, when possible, the custom is to follow the Vilna Gaon’s position.

Second, the Rambam himself holds that one can fulfill the mitzvah of matzah on Seder night with egg matzah made with the proper intention. Although the halacha does not follow the Rambam on this point, some suggest that it is still preferable not to eat egg matzah on Erev Pesach, since according to his view it is similar to the matzah used for the mitzvah.

A talmid of Rav Moshe Wolfson, zt”l, once related that from the moment his wife took out the Pesach pots and dishes, chametz was no longer used in their home. On Shabbos, for lechem mishneh, Rav Wolfson would use egg matzah. Interestingly, one year while eating seudah shlishis in shul shortly before Pesach, he remarked, “It’s been quite a while since I’ve had challah!”

The Shulchan Aruch also offers an intriguing practical instruction. Someone baking egg matzah should ideally prepare a dough smaller than the shiur that would require separating challah.

Ordinarily, when a Jewish baker separates challah, the piece is burned. This is because challah has the same halachic status as terumah, and terumah that becomes tamei must be burned. However, food can only become susceptible to tumah after it has come into contact with one of seven specific liquids, the most common being water.

Thus, ordinary dough containing water becomes susceptible to tumah and can contract tumah when touched by a tamei person or utensil. Therefore, the separated challah is tamei and is therefore burned.

With egg matzah, however, we are extremely careful that the flour never comes into contact with water. As noted earlier, adding water to fruit juice can cause the dough to become chametz rapidly. As a result, the separated challah from such water-free dough would not be susceptible to tumah.

The obligation to separate challah when baking a large quantity of egg matzah presents a problem: the baker, being tamei, is forbidden to eat the challah, yet the separated piece could not be burned.

The Mishnah Berurah (462:20) advises that in such a situation, one should give the separated dough to a young son or daughter of a kohen. The Derech Emunah, however, writes that this advice applies only to dough prepared in Chutz La’Aretz. In Eretz Yisrael, the separated challah would have to be buried.

Now we can return to the mysterious half-matzah.

David Olivestone once traveled to Meah Shearim to purchase shemurah matzah. As his package was being wrapped, the baker mentioned that he had not yet taken challah from that batch of matzos. Generally, the practice is to separate challah from matzah only after the baking process is complete. “It’s not a problem,” the baker said casually. “Just burn half a matzah together with your chametz.”

At that moment, Olivestone realized the source of his grandfather’s custom. The half-matzah placed in the bedikas chametz bag was intended to be burned together with the chametz. The half-matzah was the challah that had been separated from the other baked matzos.

Mystery solved.