{"id":5672,"date":"2011-03-04T12:04:03","date_gmt":"2011-03-04T10:04:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?p=5672"},"modified":"2021-03-22T11:54:08","modified_gmt":"2021-03-22T09:54:08","slug":"04-12-04","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-12-04\/","title":{"rendered":"04.\u00a0The Fitness of Handmade and Machine-Made Matza for the Mitzva"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A great dispute has raged among <strong>poskim<\/strong> ever since the invention of matza-baking machines. The dispute centers on two principal questions: 1) Is there indeed no concern that machine-made <strong>matzot<\/strong> may become <strong>\u1e25ametz<\/strong>? 2) Can one use them to fulfill the mitzva of eating matza on the Seder night?<\/p>\n<p>Concerning the question of <strong>\u1e25ametz<\/strong>, it is agreed that everything depends on the nature of the machine and on its supervision. As long as there are <strong>kashrut<\/strong> supervisors who ensure that there is no risk of <strong>\u1e25ametz<\/strong>, the <strong>matzot<\/strong> are kosher for Pesa\u1e25. Thus even the most pious and God-fearing Jews eat machine-made <strong>matzot<\/strong> on Pesa\u1e25.<\/p>\n<p>The second question, however, is still debated. Some say that the mitzva of guarding the matza requires that the entire process of kneading and baking be done with explicit intent that they are <strong>le-shem matzat mitzva<\/strong>, and since a machine cannot have intentions, one would not fulfill the mitzva of eating matza on the Seder night with machine-made matza.<\/p>\n<p>Most <strong>poskim<\/strong> maintain that one can fulfill the mitzva by eating machine-made <strong>matzot<\/strong>, for several reasons. Firstly, as we learned, some maintain that the mitzva of guarding the matza only requires one to ensure that it does not become <strong>\u1e25ametz<\/strong>, and it is irrelevant whether this is done while making the matza by hand or by supervising the activity of a machine (based on Ra\u2019ah). Furthermore, a human being operates the machine, and if he operates it with the intent of making <strong>matzat mitzva<\/strong>, then automatically all of the machine\u2019s operations are considered to have been done for the sake of the mitzva.<\/p>\n<p>In practice, one may use machine-made matza to fulfill the mitzva of eating matza on the Seder night. Many are scrupulous to fulfill the mitzva with handmade <strong>matzot<\/strong> that were baked under good supervision, but it is not necessary to eat handmade <strong>matzot<\/strong> throughout the Seder meal. Rather, scrupulous fulfillment entails eating handmade matza for those <strong>kezayit<\/strong> quantities that constitute the mitzva (see below 16:22-25).<sup><a href='#_te01ftn12_4' id='_te01ftnref12_4' class='aup1'>[4]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<div>\n<hr size=\"1\" \/>\n<div>\n<a href='#_te01ftnref12_4' id='_te01ftn12_4'>[4]<\/a>. Originally, the machines were operated with more human input, which caused concerns of <strong>\u1e25ametz<\/strong> and of breaking from tradition. After the machines were enhanced and improved, these concerns abated, but the concern that operating the machine does not constitute intent remained and was even magnified. Among those who prohibit machine matza are: R. Shlomo Kluger, R. \u1e24ayim Halberstam (the Sanzer Rebbe, author of <strong>Divrei \u1e24ayim<\/strong>), R. Yitz\u1e25ak Meir Alter (the Gerrer Rebbe, author of <strong>\u1e24idushei Ha-Rim<\/strong>)<strong>, <\/strong>R. Avraham Bornstein of Sochatchov (author of <strong>Avnei Nezer<\/strong>), and most of the great \u1e24asidic leaders. Even today, most \u1e24asidic <strong>poskim<\/strong> tend to dismiss machine-made matza. Among those who permit are: the authors of <strong>Sho\u2019el U-meishiv<\/strong>, <strong>Tiferet Yisrael<\/strong>, <strong>Ktav Sofer<\/strong>, and <strong>Arukh Le-ner<\/strong>. Some <strong>poskim<\/strong> even prefer machine matza to handmade matza, since there is less of a chance of the machine matza becoming <strong>\u1e25ametz<\/strong>. This is the opinion of R. Meir Sim\u1e25a of Dvinsk (author of <strong>Or Same\u2019a\u1e25<\/strong>) and R. Shmuel Salant, the head of the Jerusalem rabbinical court<strong>, <\/strong>who personally ate machine matza, as did the Lithuanian community in old Jerusalem. The main reason for preferring machine matza is that the most important dimension of guarding the matza is to ensure that it does not become <strong>\u1e25ametz<\/strong>, and based on what they saw, machine matza was less likely to become <strong>\u1e25ametz<\/strong>. R. Tzvi Pesa\u1e25 Frank, cited in <strong>Mikra\u2019ei Kodesh<\/strong> 2:3, states that since gentiles and children are intelligent, a supervising Jew cannot supply proper intent on their behalf while they knead. A machine, on the other hand, has no intelligence, so the intent of the Jew operating the machine is effective. Thus, my teacher R. Tzvi Yehuda Kook would eat machine-made matza at the Seder. R. Min-Hahar and R. Messas also preferred machine-made matza. R. Shaul Yisraeli stated that there is no preference for handmade matza over machine-made matza. According to R. Mordechai Eliyahu, even though one may recite the <strong>berakha <\/strong>over machine-made matza, handmade matza is preferable. (<strong>Responsa<\/strong> <strong>Oneg Yom Tov <\/strong>O\u1e24 42 explains that even though the mitzva to guard the matza is from the Torah, if for some reason one does not have matza that was guarded for the sake of the mitzva, he still has a Torah obligation to eat matza on the Seder night, presumably with a <strong>berakha<\/strong>, even though he has not fulfilled the mitzva of guarding the matza.)<\/p>\n<p>I wrote that using handmade matza constitutes a more scrupulous form of observance based on my father\u2019s explanation. Many things have changed in recent decades. Machines are more automated than ever, so there are more grounds for concern that no specific action was done for the sake of the mitzva. Perhaps in the past, when more human input was necessary to operate the machinery, this problem was less of a concern, but today the machines operate at the touch of a button. Moreover, when all of the matza was handmade, there was a concern that the pressure to supply matza to the entire nation meant that matza bakers would not be sufficiently meticulous in their efforts to keep the matza from becoming <strong>\u1e25ametz<\/strong>. The machines were a great solution to that issue. Nowadays, on the other hand, most handmade matza factories are extraordinarily scrupulous, to the point that the situation may have been reversed, and there is less concern about handmade matza becoming <strong>\u1e25ametz<\/strong> than there is about machine-made matza. Even though there is a consensus that the intent of the machine operator or the <strong>kashrut<\/strong> supervisor is sufficient, having the proper intent throughout the process (as is the case with handmade matza) enhances the mitzva. This is especially true if one bakes his own matza, since it is always better for one to fulfill a mitzva on his own rather than through an agent (this is indeed my father\u2019s custom \u2013 to bake his own <strong>matzot mitzva<\/strong>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A great dispute has raged among poskim ever since the invention of matza-baking machines. The dispute centers on two principal questions: 1) Is there indeed no concern that machine-made matzot may become \u1e25ametz? 2) Can one use them to fulfill the mitzva of eating matza on the Seder night? Concerning the question of \u1e25ametz, it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-12-the-laws-of-matza"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>04.\u00a0The Fitness of Handmade and Machine-Made Matza for the Mitzva - Peninei Halakha<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-12-04\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"04.\u00a0The Fitness of Handmade and Machine-Made Matza for the Mitzva - Peninei Halakha\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A great dispute has raged among poskim ever since the invention of matza-baking machines. 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