{"id":6935,"date":"2011-03-16T23:24:41","date_gmt":"2011-03-16T21:24:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?p=6935"},"modified":"2021-03-22T13:40:14","modified_gmt":"2021-03-22T11:40:14","slug":"04-16-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-16-24\/","title":{"rendered":"24.\u00a0The Sephardic Custom Regarding a <strong>Kezayit<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sephardic Jews customarily do not give any consideration to the Noda Bi-Yehuda\/\u1e24azon Ish position, because their own tradition about these measurements was handed down in an orderly manner from generation to generation. Even with regard to Torah commandments, they are not concerned about the \u1e24azon Ish <strong>shi\u2019ur. <\/strong>It follows that the volume of a <strong>kezayit<\/strong> does not exceed one third of a piece of machine matza (based on the position of <strong>Tosafot<\/strong> that a <strong>kezayit<\/strong> is about half an egg).<\/p>\n<p>The above applies when one measures by volume; however, the custom of many Sephardim is to measure the <strong>shi\u2019ur <\/strong>by weight, as it is difficult to calculate the volume of each food independently to determine whether one must recite a <strong>berakha a\u1e25arona<\/strong> after eating it. After all, foods come in all sorts of shapes and sizes: long and thin, round and square, etc. Some foods contain hollow spaces that are not factored into the volume. Thus, in order to make it easier to calculate <strong>shi\u2019urim<\/strong>, the practice of measuring by water weight was adopted. It was thus determined that a <strong>kezayit<\/strong>, or half an egg, is equal to 29 grams (a more recent adjustment puts it at 25 grams). In order to eat this amount of matza, one must eat nearly a whole piece of machine matza. In other words, if we calculate a <strong>kezayit<\/strong> of matza by weight, it comes out almost three times more than if measured by volume.<\/p>\n<p>Accordingly, one must eat four machine <strong>matzot<\/strong> on the Seder night: two after the initial <strong>berakhot<\/strong>, one for <strong>korekh<\/strong>, and one more for the <strong>afikomen<\/strong>. Many Sephardim do so (and some are stringent and eat two <strong>matzot <\/strong>for the <strong>afikoman<\/strong>).<\/p>\n<p>Yet is it clear that in principle all measurements are by volume, not weight, as several leading Sephardic <strong>poskim \u2013<\/strong> R. Ben-Zion Abba Shaul and R. Shalom Messas \u2013 have ruled. Since the stringency of measuring matza by weight raises justifiable difficulties and consternation among many participants, we may instruct all Jews, Sephardic and Ashkenazic alike, that a <strong>kezayit<\/strong> is a third of a machine matza.<sup><a href='#_te01ftn16_21' id='_te01ftnref16_21' class='aup1'>[21]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<div>\n<hr size=\"1\" \/>\n<div>\n<a href='#_te01ftnref16_21' id='_te01ftn16_21'>[21]<\/a>. The vast majority of Rishonim maintain that <strong>shi\u2019urim <\/strong>are calculated by volume. This is the ruling of <strong>Ye\u1e25aveh Da\u2019at<\/strong> 4:55 regarding the minimum <strong>shi\u2019ur <\/strong>for the tithing of <strong>\u1e25alla<\/strong>. See the addendum \u201c<strong>Shi\u2019ur Kezayit<\/strong>\u201d at the back of R. Harari\u2019s <strong>Mikra\u2019ei Kodesh<\/strong> part 4 and 6:3. See also <strong>Peninei Halakha:<\/strong> <strong>Berakhot <\/strong>10:6, 7 and the <strong>Har\u1e25avot ad loc<\/strong>. Nevertheless, Sephardic A\u1e25aronim customarily calculate a <strong>kezayit <\/strong>by weight, as \u1e24ida writes in <strong>Ma\u1e25zik Berakha<\/strong> 168:6; see also <strong>Kaf Ha-\u1e25ayim<\/strong> (168:45-46 and 486:1, 3) which cites more sources. This is also the ruling of R. Ovadia Yosef and R. Mordechai Eliyahu. Some <strong>poskim<\/strong> raise the possibility that <strong>shi\u2019urim <\/strong>should be calculated by weight even in principle, since perhaps volume must be calculated after the food has been compressed, and a <strong>kezayit <\/strong>of fully compressed food will have the same weight as water. However, it is clear that the practice of measuring by weight was adopted to make calculations easier. Therefore, even one who normally measures by weight may rely on a volume-based measurement for matza. Indeed, R. Ben-Zion Abba Shaul and R. Shalom Messas maintain that one should calculate by volume <strong>le-khat\u1e25ila<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, since our custom is to eat two <strong>kezayit<\/strong>-sized pieces initially, one must eat two thirds of a machine-made matza. Even according to the weight-based measurement, two thirds of a machine-made matza constitutes a <strong>kezayit<\/strong> according to Rambam<strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It should be noted that according to the latest calculations of Rambam\u2019s opinion, it emerges that the weight of half an egg is c. 25 grams, not 27, 28, or 29 grams as calculated by those who follow R. \u1e24ayim Naeh. See <strong>Peninei Halakha:<\/strong> <strong>Berakhot <\/strong>10:6, 11. Nevertheless, the key point is that we calculate by volume, and by eating one third of a machine\u00ad-made matza<strong>,<\/strong> one removes all doubt. See <strong>Sidur Pesa\u1e25 Ke-hilkhato<\/strong> 2:8:4. Sephardim who eat thick, soft matza may also calculate by volume, since this is the primary halakhic method. However, it is easier to eat a weight-based (25 gm) <strong>kezayit <\/strong>of this matza. After the initial <strong>berakhot<\/strong>, when we eat two <strong>kezeytim<\/strong>, one may use Rambam\u2019s <strong>kezayit<\/strong>, which is less than a third of an egg, and c. 30 gm of matza would suffice in this instance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sephardic Jews customarily do not give any consideration to the Noda Bi-Yehuda\/\u1e24azon Ish position, because their own tradition about these measurements was handed down in an orderly manner from generation to generation. Even with regard to Torah commandments, they are not concerned about the \u1e24azon Ish shi\u2019ur. It follows that the volume of a kezayit [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-16-seder-night"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>24.\u00a0The Sephardic Custom Regarding a Kezayit - 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\/04-16-24\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"24.\u00a0The Sephardic Custom Regarding a Kezayit - Peninei Halakha\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sephardic Jews customarily do not give any consideration to the Noda Bi-Yehuda\/\u1e24azon Ish position, because their own tradition about these measurements was handed down in an orderly manner from generation to generation. Even with regard to Torah commandments, they are not concerned about the \u1e24azon Ish shi\u2019ur. It follows that the volume of a kezayit [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-16-24\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Peninei Halakha\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-03-16T21:24:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-03-22T11:40:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/04-16-24\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/04-16-24\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8822293bfa4f7cd35b44a3c311851b63\"},\"headline\":\"24.\u00a0The Sephardic Custom Regarding a Kezayit\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-16T21:24:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-22T11:40:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/04-16-24\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":722,\"articleSection\":[\"16 \u2013 The Seder Night\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/04-16-24\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/04-16-24\\\/\",\"name\":\"24.\u00a0The Sephardic Custom Regarding a Kezayit - Peninei Halakha\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-16T21:24:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-22T11:40:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8822293bfa4f7cd35b44a3c311851b63\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/04-16-24\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/04-16-24\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/04-16-24\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"\u05d3\u05e3 \u05d4\u05d1\u05d9\u05ea\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"24.\u00a0The Sephardic Custom Regarding a Kezayit\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Peninei Halakha\",\"description\":\"HaRav Eliezer Melamed\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8822293bfa4f7cd35b44a3c311851b63\",\"name\":\"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4839847e1f630d0e0f5d54879b51b427c551b51611b74d6558e54ff6e69ce498?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4839847e1f630d0e0f5d54879b51b427c551b51611b74d6558e54ff6e69ce498?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4839847e1f630d0e0f5d54879b51b427c551b51611b74d6558e54ff6e69ce498?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/author\\\/shlomit12\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"24.\u00a0The Sephardic Custom Regarding a Kezayit - Peninei Halakha","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-16-24\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"24.\u00a0The Sephardic Custom Regarding a Kezayit - Peninei Halakha","og_description":"Sephardic Jews customarily do not give any consideration to the Noda Bi-Yehuda\/\u1e24azon Ish position, because their own tradition about these measurements was handed down in an orderly manner from generation to generation. Even with regard to Torah commandments, they are not concerned about the \u1e24azon Ish shi\u2019ur. It follows that the volume of a kezayit [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-16-24\/","og_site_name":"Peninei Halakha","article_published_time":"2011-03-16T21:24:41+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-03-22T11:40:14+00:00","author":"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-16-24\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-16-24\/"},"author":{"name":"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8","@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/8822293bfa4f7cd35b44a3c311851b63"},"headline":"24.\u00a0The Sephardic Custom Regarding a Kezayit","datePublished":"2011-03-16T21:24:41+00:00","dateModified":"2021-03-22T11:40:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-16-24\/"},"wordCount":722,"articleSection":["16 \u2013 The Seder Night"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-16-24\/","url":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-16-24\/","name":"24.\u00a0The Sephardic Custom Regarding a Kezayit - Peninei Halakha","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-03-16T21:24:41+00:00","dateModified":"2021-03-22T11:40:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/8822293bfa4f7cd35b44a3c311851b63"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-16-24\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-16-24\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-16-24\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u05d3\u05e3 \u05d4\u05d1\u05d9\u05ea","item":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"24.\u00a0The Sephardic Custom Regarding a Kezayit"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/","name":"Peninei Halakha","description":"HaRav Eliezer Melamed","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/8822293bfa4f7cd35b44a3c311851b63","name":"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4839847e1f630d0e0f5d54879b51b427c551b51611b74d6558e54ff6e69ce498?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4839847e1f630d0e0f5d54879b51b427c551b51611b74d6558e54ff6e69ce498?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4839847e1f630d0e0f5d54879b51b427c551b51611b74d6558e54ff6e69ce498?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8"},"url":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/author\/shlomit12\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6935\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}