[Avodah] Particles of flour cannot become Chamets

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

Rabbi Meir Rabi asked:

> Can anyone assist understanding the Shaarei Teshuva 460, who
> says that even those who will not soak a whole Matza during
> Pesach will nevertheless use Matza meal since only a blob of
> flour can become Chamets. When pulverised throughout the meal
> the same flour particles cannot become Chamets.

Offlist, RMR showed me that this Shaarei Teshuva can be found in printed editions of the Mishna Brurah, on page 118, in the section in square brackets, beginning 11 lines from the bottom in my edition.

I think he explains himself in the last four lines there, especially the third line from the bottom, beginning with "v'af al gav": "Even though we are makpid on the chimutz of one grain of wheat in water, even if it is a small grain, or even half a grain..."

I've always thought that the shiur of chametz is a mashehu. But he seems to hold that the shiur for chametz is half a grain or so, and two or three particles (he calls them "garinim") of flour are below that shiur.

I agree that particles of flour (sometimes I call them "dust") are extremely tiny, but still larger than a mashehu. Perhaps he rejects the idea of taking the word "mashehu" literally. (It is similar to what I once heard, that if only one posek says something, it can be ignored; you need TWO poskim for it to be a "daas YACHID".)

But that's only my guess. He does mention (7 lines from the bottom) that the "Dvar Shmuel" said something similar, but he's not really quoting it as a source. The real source, it seems, is his own common sense, as he wrote (four lines from the bottom, after the full stop) "v'nireh b'chush".

I hope this helps!

Akiva Miller

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