R' Eli Turkel wrote:
> I am currently learning shoneh halachot from RCK. He says
> that lechatchila even the water drawn for the matzot (mayim
> she-lanu) should be by an adult Jew, not a goy or a
> minor/chesh/shoteh. All melachot connected with the baking
> of the matzo after cutting the wheat should be done by an
> adult Jew. Again this is lechatchila.

(This post will focus on the use of the word "lechatchila" in 
reference to an adult Jew drawing the water.)

When I read these sort of comments, I can't help but suspect that 
words have been spoken with one meaning, and heard with a different 
meaning. Specifically, the way RET seems to have learned this sefer, 
he seems to understand that if the water was drawn by a non-Jew, then 
the matza is only "shmura b'dieved". I suspect that this is *not* 
what RCK meant when he wrote that sefer, and he merely meant that the 
ideal way of making matzos is for adult Jews to do all the steps, and 
that one should try to do so, not that there is any sort of p'gam in 
a matza which had some minor amount of non-Jewish involvement.

If I am wrong here (which is quite possible, given that I'm not 
hearing RCK directly, but several steps removed) then I apologize. 
But if I am correct, then it would have been better if he had been 
more explicit about what he meant.

This situation is similar to those who say that it is assur to get a 
haircut during sefira, which leads people to think that there is some 
sort of issur against getting haircuts during sefira. No, there is 
not. There is a *minhag* against such haircuts, and it is assur to 
violate such a *minhag*. It is a fine distinction, but a very real 
one (just as with the matzos).

Akiva Miller