Siman 453, Se'if 1 · The scope of the obligation to eat matzah

Shulchan Aruch, Siman 453: the laws of wheat and its grinding for matzos, containing nine se'ifim.

"These are the things with which one fulfills the obligation of matzah: wheat, barley, spelt, oats and rye. The custom is to take wheat l'chatchilah. But not rice or the other kinds of kitniyos (legumes); and they also never come to chimutz (leavening), so it is permitted to make a cooked dish from them."
(Shulchan Aruch)

(Not all nine se'ifim were studied here, only what is relevant to our topic.)

The scope of the obligation to eat matzah

"With which one fulfills the obligation: on the first night of Pesach."
(Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 1)

• What the obligation is: On Pesach there is a prohibition against eating chametz, and alongside it a mitzvah to eat matzah. According to Chazal the mitzvah of eating matzah applies only on the night of the Seder, at the first eating, over which we say the berachah "al achilas matzah," and some say the afikoman counts as well. For that reason some hold one needs two kezeisim, one for each.
• Matzas mitzvah: The term "matzas mitzvah" refers to the matzah a person eats at the Seder at those particular eatings. For korech, by contrast, there is no requirement to use specifically the most mehudar matzah; a kosher matzah is enough.
• The rest of Pesach: During the remaining days of Pesach there is no obligation at all to eat matzah. A person may eat any other food, as long as he does not eat chametz.
• The view of the Gra: According to the Gra, every eating of matzah on Pesach is a fulfillment of a mitzvah, but the other opinions hold that the obligation ends with the night of the Seder.
• For further study: The question of whether there is a prohibition to eat matzah (before Pesach), and which matzah is valid for matzas mitzvah, will be discussed in their proper place.

What matzah is made from: the five grains

• The five species: Wheat, barley, spelt, oats and rye. From any one of them you can grind flour, knead it with water alone, and bake it with all the required precautions, and that is matzas mitzvah, eaten at the Seder.
• Flour and water only: Matzas mitzvah is made from flour and water alone, a point that will be explained further on.
• The source of the definition: The Torah says, "You shall not eat chametz with it; seven days you shall eat matzos." At first glance the two halves of the verse have nothing to do with each other, since someone who is not eating chametz could just as well eat potatoes. From here Chazal derived that matzah is defined by way of chametz: matzah is something made from a substance that is capable of becoming chametz.
• The conclusion: Only the five grains come to chimutz, and therefore only they are valid for matzas mitzvah. Even though you can grind rice or corn and bake something from them, that is not matzah, because they never leaven.

Why the custom is to use wheat l'chatchilah

"The custom: because it is the most beloved food to a person, and there is an element of hiddur mitzvah. And if he has no wheat, he should take for the matzos whichever of the other four species is most important to him, so that he will eat it with appetite."
(Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 2)

Rice and kitniyos: they never become chametz

"But not rice: and the same law applies to millet. The Gemara derives from a verse that one does not fulfill the obligation of matzah on the first night, when it is obligatory, except with something that can come to chimutz, and these do not leaven."
(Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 3)

"And the other kinds of kitniyos: and tatarki, which is called grika (buckwheat), is also one of the kinds of kitniyos."
(Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 4)

"And they also never come to chimutz: ever. Even if a person kneads rice flour with boiling water and covers it with garments until it swells like dough that has leavened, this is not chimutz but rotting, and it is permitted to eat."
(Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 5)

• The definition of flour: In our language "flour" means what is ground from wheat, but in essence anything ground into a powder is called flour: rice flour, corn flour, lentil flour and the like.
• Buckwheat is not spelt: Buckwheat (grika) is counted among the kinds of kitniyos; it is not the spelt that is one of the five grains.
• The practical difference: Rice and kitniyos are not valid for matzas mitzvah, but they carry no concern of chametz whatsoever, and according to the Shulchan Aruch it is permitted to eat them on Pesach and even to cook with them. This is the Sephardic custom.

The Ashkenazi custom to forbid kitniyos

"And some forbid; and the custom in Ashkenaz is to be stringent, and one should not deviate from it."
(the Rema)

"And some forbid: this is not from the letter of the law, but a stringency they took upon themselves."
(Mishnah Berurah)

• There is no prohibition from the letter of the law: You cannot say that Sephardim are committing a transgression, and certainly not the prohibition of chametz, which carries kares. From the letter of the law it is permitted to everyone, and among Ashkenazim it is a chumrah they accepted upon themselves.
• Not mentioned in the Gemara: The matter does not appear in the Gemara, and in the time of the Gemara they explicitly ate rice on Pesach. The stringency developed over the generations, which is why it is worth learning what happened over the course of time.

The two reasons for the stringency in the Mishnah Berurah

1. Concern for a mixture of grain kernels: Sometimes grain is mixed in among kinds of kitniyos and it is impossible to sort it out properly, and they come to chimutz when baked or cooked.
2. Concern that the public will err: People grind rice into flour and bake bread from it, and there are people who will not distinguish between this flour and the flour of the five grains, or between this bread and bread of the five grains, and from that they will come to be lenient with actual grain flour as well.

"The reason for this stringency: because sometimes grain is mixed in among the kinds of kitniyos and it is impossible to sort it properly, and it comes to chimutz when he bakes or cooks them. Furthermore, many times they grind the rice into flour, and many times they even bake bread from it, and there are many people and amei ha'aretz who will not distinguish between this flour and the flour of the five grains, or between this bread and the bread of the five grains, and they will come to eat it."
(Mishnah Berurah)

• Illustrating the first reason: A person buys a kilo of rice or millet, and two grain kernels got in that were missed in the sorting. He grinds it all, adds water to bake a cake, and is sure there is no concern at all, and within twenty or thirty minutes the mixture leavens.

Chametz forbids even in the tiniest amount

• No bittul in a majority: With chametz we do not say that the mixture is nullified in a majority; rather chametz forbids b'mashehu, in any amount at all, and there is almost no dispute about this. Therefore even one wheat kernel mixed into a kilo of rice raises a concern.
• Sorting rice among Sephardim: Even those who permit rice only permit it after careful sorting, and the Sephardic custom is to sort the rice three times.
• The basis of the stringency: Ashkenazim were concerned that even after sorting once and twice a person would not notice a grain kernel that had slipped in, and with a chumrah one does not argue. In the time of the Gemara, and among Sephardim, there was no such concern.

Extending the stringency: lo plug

"Therefore they were stringent upon them to forbid any bread and any cooked dish; and even to cook rice as whole grains is likewise forbidden, because of lo plug (they did not distinguish), and perhaps kernels of the five grains will be found in it."
(Mishnah Berurah)

• Why even a cooked dish was forbidden: With a baked item you can say the appearance is misleading, but with rice cooked as whole grains there is no room for a mistake, since you can see that it is rice. Even so they forbade it, because of lo plug: once they decreed on the matter, they decreed on all of it and did not distinguish between one form and another. And also, perhaps grain kernels are found inside it.

A true story: the decree in the city of Izmir

• The story: A rav in Izmir some four hundred years ago (Rav Chaim Benveniste, though some attribute the story to Rav Chaim Palagi) related that he learned about his neighbor that she had baked a cake from flour on Pesach. When she was asked how she knew this was permitted, she answered that she had not asked a rav; she had simply seen that the rav's own wife was baking a cake from flour. It turned out that the rav's wife had baked with rice flour, and the neighbor had not noticed the difference.
• The result: From that incident the rav forbade all the residents of his city to bake cakes from rice flour, and this is a living example of the second reason in the Mishnah Berurah, the concern that the public will be misled.

B'dieved: kitniyos that fell into the food

"However, it is obvious that we do not forbid b'dieved if they fell into the cooked dish."
(Mishnah Berurah)

"If they fell... nevertheless, the kernels that one removes must be thrown out. And all of this is when it is not recognizable. ... That there is at least a majority of permitted food; and if not, it is not called a mixture at all, and it is like eating kitniyos in a dish for their own sake."
(Mishnah Berurah)

• The distinction from chametz: With chametz the concern is that it forbids b'mashehu, but kitniyos are not an intrinsic prohibition, only a custom, and therefore they are nullified in a majority.
• Kernels that are recognizable: Kitniyos kernels visible in the dish must be removed and thrown out. If they are not recognizable and have dissolved into the dish, nothing has happened.
• The required measure: The Mishnah Berurah stresses that there must at least be a majority of permitted food; he does not require a measure of sixty. If there is no majority, this is not a mixture at all, and it is as though one is eating the kitniyos themselves.

In passing · The custom of kitniyos in our time and related questions

1. The status of the stringency in practice

• The words of Rav Ovadia Yosef: He was asked why many Sephardim do not eat rice on Pesach, and he answered that the Sephardim who came to Eretz Yisrael were influenced by the Ashkenazim. (And in jest he added that the Ashkenazi men were influenced by the Ashkenazi women.)
• In pressing circumstances: In times of siege and food shortage, rice was permitted to Ashkenazim, precisely because it is clear that this is only a chumrah. This does not mean an actual case of pikuach nefesh, in which even outright chametz would be permitted; rather, when there is no food for people, we rely on the fact that this is not the letter of the law.
• In the army: There were periods in which Rav Goren permitted rice and even beans for Ashkenazim in the army, and not everyone accepted this.

2. Labeling Pesach products so as not to mislead

• Potato flour: When potato flour first came on the market there were rabbanim who spoke out against using it, for that very same reason of the concern of misleading people.
• Wafers for Pesach: Pesach products that resemble chametz products forced the manufacturers to change their shape, for example wafers made in a different size than usual, and likewise soup nuts (croutons) in a different shape. Without such a change they would not be given a hechsher, because it misleads the public.
• A parallel from the laws of kashrus: The same idea exists in marking dairy burekas in a triangular shape as opposed to meat burekas, so that people do not confuse the products.
• The conclusion: The concern of misleading people that the Mishnah Berurah mentions is not theoretical, as the story in Izmir testifies, and in our time it finds expression in the hechsher requirements regarding the shape of products.

3. A couple from different communities

• The halachah: In the case of a couple where the husband and wife are from different communities, the rule is that the wife follows her husband. This point does not appear in this siman. (A remark was made in jest in the name of Rav Neri, that it depends on who runs the house.)

4. Topics to be discussed later

• Gebrokts (shruyah): The Mishnah Berurah addresses the matter of shruyah further on.
• Oil from kitniyos: Until now we have discussed only food made from kitniyos. The question of oil produced from kitniyos is a separate and serious topic, and will be discussed in its place.
• Canola oil: The question of canola, where the plant itself is not eaten, will be discussed later on.