[Avodah] air holes

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

In the thread "size of a kezayit", I quoted the MB as writing:
> If there is an airspace (chalal) in the matza, the airspace
> does not contribute to the shiur kezayis, and he must mash
> it (to measure it properly

R' Eli Turkel comments:
> According to tis if one eats an olive then it is not kezayit
> (ignore changes in shiurim) since one needs to smash the
> olive (it is preety squeeshy). At least eggs seem to be less
> smashable.

I think that RET is confusing items which are soft and pliable, with items which are porous and compressible. If you take an olive, and cut the sides off so that you are left with a cube one centimeter on each side, then you have one cubic centimeter of olive. That is, the cube is 100% olive fruit, and an olive does indeed measure one full kezayit. But if you take a piece of bread or matza (such as in the MB's example), and cut a 1 cc cube of it, what you have is mostly bread, but some air also, so that you have *less than* 1 cc of bread.

Or maybe I misunderstood RET's post.

Akiva Miller
_____________________________________________________________
Improve air flow with a great looking ceiling fan. Click now!
http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2121/fc/Ioyw6i3nWfRQm7kKYFUB14NKr0fet2RFJHZgeJCRZVdP4fdBBlF47X/