[Avodah] soft matza

[Micha Berger]

On Sun, Mar 21, 2010 at 10:27:47PM +0200, Goldmeier wrote:
: Is there any problem preventing an ashkenazy Jew from eating the soft 
: Yemenite matza's (very similar to a "Lafa") on pesach?

Yemenite matza may be a problem, since some do include salt in the
recipe.

However, Syrians and many other communities do make soft matzos, and in
fact one Flatbush bakery makes them available on-line --
www.softmatza.com.

I asked RHSchachter about it, and he held there is no problem. In fact,
he off-the-cuf speculated that perhaps it's a more authentic choice for
koreikh as it can actually be wrapped.

R' Aviner holds similarly, that there is no problem.

This topic comes up annually, in part because I myself use some soft
matzah at the seder. One question that has yet to be resolved is when
Ashkenazim stopped using soft matzos ourselves.

 From the archive, see
http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/getindex.cgi?section=S#SOFT%20MATZAH
and the next topic, as well as
http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/getindex.cgi?section=C#CRISPY%20MATZAH
and the following topic.

As for minhag... The question is when Ashkenazim switched and why.
Quite likely the whole concept of crispy matzos dates back to the 18th
cent CE, and may have more to do with increasing production than
avoiding chametz concerns. (Ignore my speculation about the Council
of Nicea imitating crispy matzvos in the Xian rite, that was disproven
in concersation)

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             "The worst thing that can happen to a
micha at aishdas.org        person is to remain asleep and untamed."
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