[Avodah] Soft Matza in the Ar HaShulchan, M Berura & ShO HaRav

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Mar 15, 2011 at 01:08:51PM +1100, Meir Rabi wrote:
: This is found in the discussion regarding the Shiur of Kezayis, whether the
: food must be compressed or not. In Siman 486 the Rema speaks about
: compressing the lettuce.
: 
: The Acharonim say that Matza which is bendy and soft like a sponge - Racha
: VeAsuYa KeSeFog, need not be compressed.

All sources below in AhS 486.

Of the three acharonim in the title, I had a hard time believing that
the MB and the AhS assume soft matzos. The SA haRav (SAhR) I found more
plausible, since matzos in his day were probably still too thick be
lack squeezability and still be chewable -- and he does mention "afilu
hi rakah va'asuyah kisfug" (se'if 2).

The MB is at s"q 3, and the Ahs is se'if 2. Both mention sefugim, even
though I can't believe Ashkenazim were still using spongy matzah in
their day.

Other things I turned up...

1- The MA (#1) mentions holes, but not rakah or sefug. That is consistent
with either style matzah, although as I wrote earlier, I am convinced
crispy matzos weren't commonplace yet in his day (17th cent, orphaned
by the Gezeiros Ta"ch veTa"t).

RAMiller asked at 2:38pm EDT:
> MB 208:48 and Igros Moshe O"C 1:71 say that (although the minhag is
> otherwise) one ought to count only the flour towards the kezayis for
> a bracha acharona, and not the other ingredients. It seems very simple
> to me that if we should not count the sugar and eggs, then we certainly
> should not be counting the air, which is even less relevant.

When searching for the above, I found SAhR says (453:7) something
similar about matzah made with flour that had rice flour mixed in. One
must eat a kezayis of wheat flour within the kedei achilas peras --
as the SAhR further put it, that every peras of matzah must include a
kezayis wheat flour. (Otherwise, you would have to eat more than a peras
of matzah within that kedei achilas peras.)

To try to answer RAM's question:
My guess is it's because we hold ta'am ke'ikkar. You don't taste air,
so it's bateil and thus part of the matzah. Unlike ingredients that
are part of the dough, but not needed for the mitzvah.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             The fittingness of your matzos [for the seder]
micha at aishdas.org        isn't complete with being careful in the laws
http://www.aishdas.org   of Passover. One must also be very careful in
Fax: (270) 514-1507      the laws of business.    - Rav Yisrael Salanter