[Avodah] Are emmer, einkorn and durum wheat?

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Feb 21, 2012 at 04:58:20PM +0200, Danny Schoemann wrote:
: But from the scientific point of view there have been and still are
: several other domesticated Deganim. For example: emmer, einkorn,
: durum. These species are distinct. They are not a variation of one of
: the 5 species. So legally they are not...

As I wrote in 2009...

I think the gemara (Pesachim 35) is saying that the 5 minim are really
5 subtypes of the two grains that are among the 7 minim. The Tur makes
this point as well.

Chitah expands to include chitah (wheat), and kusemes (spelt),
    and
se'orah includes se'orah (barley), shifon (rye) and shibboles shu'al
(oats / rye / wild barley).

It's therefore gezeiras hakasuv.

Ad kan the cut-n-paste.

So, it would seem that the difference between chimutz and sirchan is
simply "Hashem said so". Chameitz is something made from what Hashem
blessed EY with. The science of fermentation has nothing to do with
it.

The list of 5 is therefore somewhat difficult to count. (Or maybe too
easy!) If you identify a grain that is too different than the others,
it doesn't belong on the list at all. Too similar, and we can just say
it's already included.

(This need for matzah to be made by a subtype of chitah or se'orah
also one of the difficulties with identifying shibboles shu'al with
oats, since it's not botanically similar to se'orah. Although oats do
commonly grow in barley fields wild, as a weed, so sociologically /
psychologically they are related.)

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Take time,
micha at aishdas.org        be exact,
http://www.aishdas.org   unclutter the mind.
Fax: (270) 514-1507            - Rabbi Simcha Zissel Ziv, Alter of Kelm