Feature Tidbit CAVEAT EMPTOR • Let the Buyer Beware Osem has come out with a new product for Pesach - Chocolate Flavored Sandwich Cookies, Kosher for Pesach. The majority of the label is in Hebrew, but ingredients, Hashgacha, and nutritional information are in Hebrew and English. In not-so-easy-to-read small print, black on dark blue, the package states that the cookiesare Passover Wine Cookies, kosher for Pesach, under the supervision of the Chief Rabbinate of Beit Shemesh. First ingredient on the list is Special Passover Wheat Flour. Also on the list are vegetable oil (unspecified) and grape wine. Bottom line, before explanations to follow - although the cookie is certified kosher for Pesach, the cookie falls under a long-standing widespread ban for the Ashkenazi community. In other words, an Ashkenazi (except for infants, the elderly, and others with digestive problems) is FORBIDDEN to eat this cookie during Pesach. Okay, let's take this nice and slow(ly) and try to really understand what's involved. Let's me make one more point very clear - this article is not just about Osem's Sandwich Cookies; it is about dozens of Pesach cookies, in many shapes and sizes, packaged and bulk, that abound in this pre-Pesach season, in supermarkets,makolets, and the shuk (and other shuks). The overwhelming majority of cookies on the market are made according to the MATZA ASHIRA (a.k.a. Egg Matza, a.k.a. MATZOT YAYIN, a.k.a. Wine Cookies) formula. Many of the Pesach cookies have a Kitniyot problem too, but that is not for now. Shulchan Aruch §462 states that flour and fruit juices WITHOUT water can NEVER become Chametz, and one may eat matza (etc.) made in this way (without water) on Pesach, even if the dough/batter sat all day long (in other words, no 18 minute hurry). The M'chabeir (R. Yosef Karo) adds that matza prepared this way would not be acceptable for the mitzva of matza. The mitzva requires LECHEM ONI, poor person's bread, and not MATZA ASHIRA, rich, tasty matza. Besides the point. Flour, fruit juice (which includes egg, wine, and more) and even a small amout of water WILL become Chametz, faster than flour and water only. The halachic opinion of the author of the Shulchan Aruch is that in the absence of water, wheat flour (prepared especially for Pesach and properly protected) CAN NOT become Chametz. And this is the accepted halachic ruling for S'fardim. (Ashkenazim also accept this as halacha -however, with a major qualification. We'll get there soon.) Based on this ruling in Shulchan Aruch, many companies use special Pesach flour (flour for matza) and other ingredients, careful to avoid any water, and produce a large variety of Kosher for Pesach cookies and Egg Matza. So far, so good. Now we get to the comment of the RAM"A in subsection 4. He says, "And in our countries (Ashkenazic Europe) it is not the practice to knead with 'fruit juices'... and one should not deviate from this, unless there are extenuating circumstances for the needs of the infirm and eldery who need it (softer, easier to digest,matza made with liquids other than water)." The Mishna B'rura explains the basis for the Ashkenazi ban on Matza Ashira. He says that, (1) there are opinions that flour and fruit juice CAN become Chametz. Even though we "paskin" like the Shulchan Aruch, we ideally "worry" about the descenting opinions and so "no" to Matza Ashira (except for the elderly and infirm, etc.), and (2) we worry that maybe a minute amount of water got into the mixture despite our precautions, and we might have a real Chametz problem. Both (1) and (2) combine, not to declare that Matza Ashira is Chametz from an Ashkenazi point of view, but "merely" to ban its use by healthy people. It is not Chametz. It may be in one's possession during Pesach, it can be used before Pesach without "fear" of Chametzing an already cleaned Pesach area. But it cannot beeaten by Ashkenazim (except as mentioned earlier) on Pesach, from the time on Erev Pesach when one can no longer eat Chametz. Matza Ashira (Egg Matza, wine cookies) is NOT Chametz - we just cannot eat it. The only product in this category that is commonly made for Pesach use is Egg Matza. Years ago (might be the same today - maybe things have improved) in the States, the four major matza companies each produced an egg matza, the packages of which carried a purposefully inconspicuous warning to the effect that Egg Matza may be used only in accordance with Shulchan Aruch Orech Chaim §462. Some of the warnings were in Hebrew or Yiddish - the only non-English on the labels. It was obvious that the companies were reluctant to reduce their potential market with an explicit warning. As I said, maybe things have improved. Here in Israel, it isn't just Egg Matza that one (an Ashkenazi) has to watch out for. And the packages Wine Cookies are labeled just that and people are supposed to know what's what and who can and cannot eat this or that. But, I would venture a guess, the average American and other Anglo Oleh does not know the significanceof the various terminology. The same label that tells us that there are 7 grams of protein and 24 mg of sodium in 100 grams of cookie, should also tell us full halachic information. There are many Pesach products that are labeled "For those who eat Kitniot only" (this Pesach Cookie business was not a Kitniot issue; I'm just using another example), or "Kosher without a trace of Kitniot" or other words to that effect. In both cases the buyer gets the information he needs - something that "Kosher forPesach" does not give him. Why do we have different rulings for S'faradim and Ashkenazim anyway? Let's make one unified rule and all follow it. This might happen in the time of the next Sanhedrin. Or they might decide to maintain some of the rich cultural differences among Jews that have existed for centuries. When the common denominator among Jews - Torah & Judaism - is greater than any regional, tribal, cultural differences, then we are okay. Whatever the Sanhedrin will do, we'll have to wait for them to review the situation. We cannot decide to disregard minhagim and time-honored practices. And one's minhagim should be kept faithfully and never dismissed with a wave of the hand and a negative comment. Although the issue of Matza Ashira is based on minhag andRabbinic ban and not on Torah or Rabbinic Law per se, it still should be taken seriously. In the wording of the RAM"A, elderly and infirm are not included in the ban on Matza Ashira. Young children also may eat Matza Ashira. One should consult his Rav concerning how old a child can and cannot eat Matza Ashira. I have spent a lot of words on this topic and have tried to spell out the issue from both a practical and educational perspective. As an Oleh from the States, I encountered the difficulties of coming from an Ashkenazi-based Jewish Community to one that has an equal, if not stronger, S'faradi component. In the States, Kosherfor Pesach corn niblets are non-existent. Here we encounter the unfamiliar range of food products and restaurants that are Kosher for Pesach, but when we read the fine print we see that it is not so for everyone. This confuses, upsets, and frustrates some of us. It shouldn't. It just means being a careful and alert consumeron one level, and one who appreciates the variety of Jewish life. [The Vayikra Homepage] |
