public service announcement

[cellio]

When Streit's writes, on the package of egg matzah (which is much tastier than the plain sort), "egg matzos may be eaten only by the infirm, aged or children according to Shulchan Aruch", what they mean is "...in order to fulfill the obligation at the seder specifically". Why they don't say that is beyond me. It confused me the first year I was paying attention (so I asked), and I was just reminded of it by the box of matzah sitting on my desk here at work. (The rest of the week you don't have to eat matzah at all if you don't want to; you just have to not eat chametz.)

Comments

[cellio]

Thanks for the help.

So far as I know, the issue doesn't have to do with whether the matzah came in contact with water.

I meant during the preparation -- before it's matzah. A cursory glance at web-available sources suggests at at least some decisors were concerned that the juice might not be purely juice but might also contain a drop of water (and a single drop is apparently no differently halachically from all water).

Some people also have a custom of not eating (finished) matzah that has come into contact with liquid (so no matzahbrie for them, I guess). That's not what I meant here; sorry for the confusion.

I think -- don't quote me on this, but I think -- the concern is making sure the matzah is equivalent to bread.

That makes sense for the seder, where we say motzi (not mezunot). I'm not sure how that applies for the rest of the week, though, so long as you know what you're eating and which bracha to say.

[ichur72.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I don't quite get the drop-of-water-in-juice bit -- as long as it's all cooked within 18 minutes, why would it be a problem. Maybe it takes longer to make egg or juice matzah. I dunno.

I don't think -- once again, don't quote me on this -- that this is a big deal at any time but seder night. You aren't supposed to eat matzah during the day that leads up to seder night (at a minumum -- some people have a custom to wait as long as a month prior to Pesach). But if you have a baby/small child who's hungry or are taking care of a sick elderly person who's hungry, you can feed them egg or juice matzah prior to the seder if that's all you have. (It's supposed to be easier on the stomach than matzah and therefore more suitable for babies and sick people.) I think you can eat it whenever you want for the rest of the week.

[cellio]

I don't quite get the drop-of-water-in-juice bit -- as long as it's all cooked within 18 minutes, why would it be a problem.

Ditto.

I think you can eat it whenever you want for the rest of the week.

That's my assertion (and someone gave me such a ruling once), but apparently some Ashkenazi sources actually say no egg matzah at all unless you're sick/old/a child. I'm having trouble understanding why, but I haven't spent a lot of time looking at it.