[Avodah] Gebrockts, matza, and butter

[Professor L. Levine]

>From today's OU Kosher Halacha Yomis


Q. I do not eat gebrochts (matzah dipped in water). Should my stringency include refraining from eating matzah with butter as well?



A. As previously noted, those who avoid gebrochts are concerned that there may be unbaked flour in the matzah. Nonetheless, the Shulchan Aruch HaRav (Teshuvos 6) rules that even those who do not eat gebrochts may be lenient regarding matzah dipped in fruit juice, because Shulchan Aruch (OC 462:1) rules that fruit juices, a category which includes milk and butter, do not cause flour to become chometz. On the other hand, Sama D’chayei (13:6) notes that although fruit juice mixed with flour will not become chometz, fruit juice mixed with water and flour will become chometz in an accelerated manner (see OC 462:2). Since matzah is made with water, some of the water moisture is retained in the matzah even after the baking. As such, the combination of matzah and fruit juice may accelerate the chometz to occur (if there is unbaked flour in the matzah). Therefore, Sama D’chayei argues that one who is stringent regarding gebrochts should not let the matzah come into contact with fruit juice. The Steipler Gaon concurred with this ruling (Orchos Rabbeinu, vol. 2, p. 50).


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20190412/bbf5a7d2/attachment.html>