[Avodah] PRACTICAL PROBLEMS OF MEZONOS BREAD

[Professor L. Levine]

>From today's Hakhel email bulletin

PRACTICAL PROBLEMS OF MEZONOS BREAD: The following exceptional excerpt is from the outstanding work The Laws of Brachos (Artscroll) by Rabbi Binyomin Forst, Shlita:

Practical problems of “mezonos” bread”:

A.  Franks, falafel and sandwiches: One who eats a filling meal of “frank-on-roll,” falafel or salami sandwich, regardless of the fact that the breads are kneaded with apple juice, is required by Torah law to recite Birkas Hamazon. Consequently, one who treats “mezonos bread” as cake often neglects a positive commandment of the Torah. The responsibility for this transgression is shared with the proprietors of the restaurants, since they serve these foods to a public often unaware of these halachic problems….

B. “Mezonos challos”: Some caterers even serve “mezonos challos” at wedding banquets to save their guests the ‘inconvenience’ of al netilas yadayim and Birkas Hamazon. This practice is regrettable since the guests are encouraged to neglect their requirement of Birkas Hamazon. These challos are eaten before or during the meal in the place of normal challos, and are thus considered as pas ha’ba b’kisnin eaten together with other foods, which effects a k’vias seudah. However, one who eats cake or cookies for dessert need not be concerned with this problem. The cake is not eaten as part of the meal and does not combine with the other foods to effect a k’vias seudah (unless one eats a considerable amount of cake, in which case the cake alone may constitute a k’vias seudah).

C.  Airline meals: Airlines usually serve packaged kosher meals. These meals are commonly accompanied with a roll or bun marked “mezonos.” This practice is misleading and improper. Although the bun by itself may require only a mezonos (which is by no means certain), the fact that the bun is eaten with the other foods as a meal gives it a status of k’vias seudah. One must certainly wash, recite al netilas yadayim and hamotzi. One may eat the meal without the bun, recite a bracha achrona and eat the bun as a snack later during the course of the flight. In this case, one may perhaps rely on opinions which hold that one may recite mezonos on a roll of this type even if the taste of the fruit juice is not noticeable.

Hakhel Note: Every person is faced with the challenge of Mezonos bread in various contexts--and must realize that there is no one to fool. Rather, he should consult with his Rav or Posek as to the appropriate conduct in the various circumstances with which he is presented.
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