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How Did the Matzah Get Rich?
Rabbi Joshua Kulp
I moved to Israel thirty years ago. That’s a long time and for the most part, I’ve grown accustomed to the subtle differences between Israel and the United States. I’ve learned to park in smaller parking spaces, I’ve learned that lemons can be green, and I’ve gotten used to not having any carpeting and cleaning the floor with what we call “sponge” (pronounce the e as if you’re saying “spunja”). But there are still a few things I have not gotten used to, and one of them is the absence of egg matzah!” As a kid, we always had a box or two of egg matzot at home. The most important function of the egg matzah is that we could eat it on erev Pesah, when we were not allowed to eat real matzot. Once Pesah began, we usually had a choice.
To understand the issues surrounding egg matzah, we need to understand the status of matzah made with other liquids besides water. On Pesahim 35a, Rabbah bar Hannah and Reish Lakish rule that “dough that was kneaded with wine, oil, or honey, one is not liable to receive karet for eating it in its leavened state.” The first reason that the Talmud offers for this is that one cannot use such matzah at the seder for one’s “matzat mitzvah” because this is a “matzah ashirah,” literally rich matzah, and the Torah requires לחם עוני, that matzah be “poor man’s bread.” Poor people would not make bread with wine, oil or honey. However, this reasoning fails and the Talmud ends up with an alternative reason–”fruit juice does not cause leavening.” In other words, bread made with liquids other than water cannot become hametz because the bread will not rise.
As often happens, there is another passage in the Talmud that complicates the matter. A page later, on Pesahim 36a, the Talmud cites a source about dough kneaded with wine, oil or honey. The Talmud says that one should not knead with such substances, but if one does, the sages still allow eating the matzah, so long as it is not allowed to rise. R. Akiva even relates that he kneaded flour with wine, oil and honey in front of R. Joshua and R. Eliezer and they did not say anything to him. Thus, according to this source, bread kneaded with wine, oil or honey can be used as matzah on Pesah, but like regular matzah, it must be guarded so that it does not rise. This seems to directly contradict the previous sugya, according to which dough made with wine, oil or honey cannot rise–it can never become hametz.
There are two main resolutions to this contradiction–one by Rashi, and one by most everyone else, including the Rif, Rambam and the Tosafot. According to Rashi, the first passage, where we learned that bread made with wine, oil or honey can never become hametz, did not mean to say that such bread is permitted on Pesah. It just meant that such bread cannot become fully prohibited hametz. It can become “hard hametz”--hametz nukshe in Hebrew. Hametz nukshe is still prohibited on Pesah.
The other main resolution is that if there is no water mixed in with the wine, oil or honey, the dough cannot possibly become hametz. This is what the first passage refers to–dough kneaded without any water. The second passage refers to cases where these liquids were used in combination with water. Thus, according to this resolution, which is far and away the most dominant resolution among medieval authorities, without water, there is no such thing as hametz. Dough made with fruit juice can be left to rise and it's still not considered hametz.
Rashi seems to have been the first to be asked about matzah made with eggs. The Tosafot on Pesahim 35b relate that Rashi had some doubt about the status of “egg water”--probably referring to egg whites. Can dough kneaded with egg whites become hametz? His concern was that he noted that the dough made with egg water became thick, like risen bread. I should note that from a search on the internet, it seems that Rashi’s concern was correct–dough made with eggs will rise, and indeed, egg whites provide quality material for the yeast and other agents that aid in rising. However, in contrast with Rashi, Rabbenu Tam would eat matzah made with eggs, particularly on erev Pesah, at a time when he could not eat matzah. Thus, egg matzah on Pesah is originally a dispute between two of the greatest Talmudic commentators in history, Rashi, and his grandson Rabbenu Tam.
R. Yosef Karo, Shulkhan Arukh, Orah Hayyim 462:5, codifies the dominant opinion–fruit juices, including eggs, cannot cause leavening. Therefore, matzah made only with eggs can never become hametz. However, in his gloss on the Shulkhan Arukh, R. Moshe Isserles, the Rema, chimes in that this is not the custom in his lands (Poland and Eastern Europe) and that no one should eat egg matzah except for the sick and elderly if regular matzah is too hard to digest. Note that this is not absolute opposition to the Shulkhan Arukh’s ruling that fruit juice cannot cause leavening. It is a hesitant reservation probably for two reasons (both cited by the G’ra): 1) water might have been added; 2) the halakhah might actually follow Rashi, who ruled stringently.
Today, according to all opinions, egg matzah should not be used as the mandatory matzah at the seder. Egg matzah is considered “rich matzah” and not “lehem oni”--poor man’s bread, and therefore, one cannot fulfill one’s obligation with it on Pesah. However, during Pesah, Sephardim, who follow the custom of the Shulkhan Arukh, eat egg matzah, but Ashkenazim, who follow the stringency of the Rema, general do not, unless the person is old or sick and needs to eat softer matzah. In other words, egg matzah is certainly kosher for Passover, but is not eaten by Ashkenazim.
To return to my original question of why egg matzah is not found in Israel. The truth is that one can find products here labeled “matzah ashirah”--”rich matzah.” But they do not look like matzah. They look and taste like cookies (I think they are made with a lot of sugar). Regular, machine-made egg matzah cannot be usually found out of fear that Ashkenazim will think that this is “regular matzah” and consume it against Ashkenazi custom, or that people will come to use it at the seder.
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