28 Mar SOFT MATZAH

One of the main
staples of the
holiday of Pesach
is the Matzah. We
are all familiar
with the Matzah–a
very thin, crunchy,
cardboard looking “cracker” with holes all
over it. But what would be the reaction of
one who would walk into a Seder on the
night of Pesach, and instead of seeing the
above, would see them eating something
soft, resembling a pita or a laffa? Not only
is it soft, but it’s thick as well; while the
regular Matzah is about 1mm thick, the soft
Matzah can vary from 2-4mm.
Well, that is exactly what is likely to be seen
at the Seder of families from some Sefaradi
descent, especially Yemeni. But one need
not be in such dismay, as their Mesorah
goes back to the time of the Matzah which
our forefathers ate when they left Egypt.
Now, it is clear from many sources that there
was a time in history–and not too long ago-
-in which everyone ate soft Matzot (Rabbi
Ratsabi writes it was up to about 200-300

years ago, while Rabbi Ben Tzion Mutsafi
testified that up to 40 years ago, practically
everyone had thick and soft Matzot). But
that has changed, as with time, the Mesorah
had become lost to many communities,
and thus they forbade the consumption of
soft Matzah. But one shouldn’t think that
having such a soft Matzah risks the Kashrut
of the Matzah in any way, or that it may
raise Chametz-related concerns; as the
Chazon Ish (Chut Shani, Pesach page 156)
ruled that such Matzah is fine.
Let us examine a few of the sources which
support the fact that the Matzah used to be
soft and thick:
*The Gemara (א,ז פסחים (talks about a
person who finds bread in his house and he
isn’t sure if it’s Matzah or regular bread and
whether he is allowed to eat it or not. This
Gemara, which is brought down to Halacha
(ד,תמו סימן(, clearly indicates the strong
resemblance the Matzah had to bread;
to the extent that one wouldn’t be able to
differentiate between the two.
*The Gemara (א,לז פסחים (speaks about the
maximum thickness of a Matzah, Bet Hillel

holds it’s a size of a Tefach which is
10 cm (almost 4 inches) according to
the Chazon Ish, and 8 cm according
to Rav Chaim Na’eh.
Le’halacha, the Shulhan Aruch (סימן
ה,תס (says that a thickness of a Tefach
is forbidden, but even just under a
Tefach is permitted; and the Mishna
Berura (יז ס״ק (writes that many
Poskim permit the Matzah if it was
already baked to the thickness of a
Tefach, and all Poskim would permit less
than a Tefach, although lechatchila it is
more correct to make them thin (1ס״ק משנ״ב
.(טז
*The Shulchan Aruch (ס״ג תסא‘ סי (brings
down that after the Matzah is baked, one
should check to make sure that there are
no threads of dough which pull out of
the Matzah, and only then the Matzah is
considered fully baked and is kosher. The
Mishna Berura (יג ס״ק (adds that if one
isn’t sure if there are strings of dough, one
should push his finger into the Matzah and
see if it’s doughy, or whether some dough
gets glued to his finger.
This clearly demonstrates that the
Matzah that was baked in their time
was soft, since the Matzot that we have
today are thin and crunchy like crackers,
and are baked far more than the point
that it might be doughy with strings of
dough coming out of it, and one surely
can’t push his fingers into our Matzot.
(סי‘ תסא ס״ק טו) Berura Mishna The*
says that the indication to see if a
Matzah is fully baked is to see if the top
of the Matzah’s surface hardened. Once
the Matzah hardened on the surface,
we don’t have to worry that the inside
wasn’t baked. Now, our Matzah is so
thin that the whole Matzah is a surface
without having any inner part, thus this
Halacha wouldn’t be relevant at all,
indicating once again that their Matzot
were much thicker than ours (Rabbi
Yitschak Ratzabi).
*When the Mishna Berura (תפו‘ סי
סק״ג (speaks about the measurements of
Matzah, he says that even if a Matzah
is soft like a sponge, one doesn’t need
to squeeze the Matzah to limit its
measurement, clearly indicating that
such soft Matzah is kosher and was a
common thing.
*The Rema (ז,תעה‘ סי (writes that the
size that they used to take for the three
Matzot was an Isaron–עשרון, which is
extremely thick and big, proving clearly

that the minhag was to eat soft and thick
Matzot in Ashkenazi countries as well (אור
.(לציון וכן במנחת אשר, הגדה של פסח סי‘ טו
*The famous Ashkenazi Posek, Chok
Yaakov (כו ס״ק שם (brings that one should
make the middle Matzah soft and thick, big
enough to be sufficient to give two Kazeitot
to each person in the house. The Chatam
a such had) ספר מנהגי החתם סופר) Sofer
custom as well.
Rabbi Yitzchak Ratzabi, who is the head
of the Yemenite community in Eretz
Yisrael tells a story that happened with

an Ashkenazi Rabbi, the Rav of Hod-
Hasharon, who went to see how the Yemeni

Matzah bakery operates. He walked into the
bakery and was surprised to find out that all
the bakers were actually women! He was
told that the reason for that is that baking
is normally done by women, and Matzah
isn’t any different. After closely observing
the entire baking process, he asked to have
some of those soft Matzot for himself. One
can just imagine the look on the faces of
those who attended his Pesach Seder when
he pulled out the Matzot. After seeing the
initial shock and perplexed look on their
faces, the Rabbi explained that while at the
bakery, he was finally able to understand
and experience first-hand, all the complex
laws of the Gemara and Shulhan Aruch
concerning Matzah baking. But most
surprisingly, is that he learned them all
from the women–who never studied any
of those Gemarot–but rather followed to
the tee, all that they saw from the previous
generation.
Conclusion
Lema’ase the Ashkenazi Poskim almost
across the board, wrote that the soft Matzah
should be avoided, some say not necessarily
because of a Chametz concern, but because
that is the Minhag (Rav S.Z. Aurbach)
which became such since the thick and soft
Matzot get spoiled quickly. Others do fear
that we aren’t knowledgeable enough to
bake them without any concern of Chametz
Gross Mordechai Harav .)מנחת אשר שם)
permitted such soft Matzah for those who
wouldn’t be able to eat Matzah otherwise.