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<DIV>RMB wrote:</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">When I saw the ST, I *assumed* he was talking
chemistry, not shiurim. One<BR>wet grain of wheat can't leaven (neither chimutz
nor even sirchah). Even<BR>if ambient yeast turn some of the carbs in the wheat
into CO2 and alcohol,<BR>there isn't the ability to make a bubble of dought
around the CO2.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">CM asks:</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">My understanding of what actually makes
something chometz has always been quite deficient. I understood that as a
practical matter it requires one of the 5 grains to come into contact with water
for an adequate length of time (which could vary with temperature etc), and is
commonly called rising or leavening. The more direct terminology in lashon
hakodesh (as RMB mentions above) of chimutz (process) or sirchah (result of
process?) was not correlated well to my English terminology for the same.
Loosely, I took chimutz sometimes to mean the rising (or synonymously leavening?
– or is leavening a term more related to the chemistry?) brought on by the
chemical process RMB refers to above. Then I pictured the notion of sirchah as
sort of stretch marks (or surface cracking? not sure which) when the dough
rises? Not to clear how all this fits together to make a coherent picture of
what chometz is, and when chometz happens. Furthermore the distinction between
the trapped CO2 bubbles forming so the dough actually rises, or the CO2
chemistry still happening but not being trapped to form a bubble, (so no visible
rising occurs) would that actually prevent chometz from forming? If it is a
process or substance not detectable to the eye (without enough substance to trap
the bubbles) it does not matter halachically (as in eating bacteria etc.)? If
anyone has a good handle on these things I would certainly appreciate a
clarification.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">Kol Tuv</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">Chaim Manaster</FONT></DIV>
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