Shulchan Aruch, Siman 471, se'if 1
"It is forbidden to eat bread from the tenth hour of the day and onward, so that one will eat the matzah with an appetite. But one may eat a small amount of fruit or vegetables, provided he does not fill his stomach with them."
(Shulchan Aruch)
The tenth hour and the reason for the prohibition
- Calculating the time: The hours here are halachic (proportional) hours, and they have to be recalculated for each day. In practical terms this comes out roughly at three in the afternoon, though it also shifts with the clock changes.
- The reason: So that a person enters the Seder night hungry and eats the matzah of the mitzvah with a real appetite.
- The question this raises: If bread is forbidden from the tenth hour, what bread is there to eat on erev Pesach at all? Se'if 2 answers this, which is why we explain it first.
"Before the tenth hour it is permitted to eat matzah ashirah ("rich matzah"), but matzah with which one fulfills the obligation at night is forbidden to eat the entire fourteenth of Nisan."
(Shulchan Aruch, se'if 2)
- What is matzah ashirah: A dough kneaded from flour together with pure fruit juices only, such as wine or eggs, and baked something like a cookie.
- The Sephardic position: Fruit juices do not cause leavening, and therefore matzah ashirah may be eaten, including on erev Pesach before the tenth hour.
Starting earlier when you know the meal will run late
"However, if he knows that his meal will extend into the tenth hour, he should not begin eating even before it."
(Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 9)
- This rule is not unique to Pesach: On erev Shabbos and on the eve of every yom tov as well, one should not sit down to a meal close to the onset of the day, so that the Shabbos or yom tov seudah will be eaten with an appetite. There is a mitzvah of oneg Shabbos and of rejoicing on yom tov, and eating is part of that joy.
- Erev Pesach is stricter: On other days, since he began eating permissibly, if the meal runs a little long it is not a serious problem. On erev Pesach we are stricter: if he knows the meal will stretch into the tenth hour, he should not begin at all.
Matzah ashirah on erev Pesach (Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 10)
"Matzah ashirah: meaning that it was kneaded with fruit juices, and it is therefore permitted to eat, since one does not fulfill the obligation of matzah with it at night."
(Mishnah Berurah)
"And even if he kneaded with water and added a certain amount of fruit juice, one likewise does not fulfill the obligation of matzah with it, so long as the taste of the fruit juice is discernible in it. Consequently, regarding erev Pesach it is permitted to eat, since it has the status of matzah ashirah."
(Mishnah Berurah)
- The principle: Any matzah with which one cannot fulfill the obligation on Seder night is not included in the prohibition of eating on erev Pesach.
- The Ashkenazi custom: The Mishnah Berurah concludes that in these lands the practice is not to knead with fruit juices, and therefore Ashkenazim have no matzah ashirah at all. For them matzah ashirah is relevant only while chametz itself is still permitted, that is, until the end of the time for eating chametz in the morning, and from then on it is not applicable.
- What is left for them: Fruit, vegetables, meat and the like, but no baked food.
The prohibition of eating matzah on erev Pesach
"Whoever eats matzah on erev Pesach is like one who cohabits with his arusah (betrothed) in his father-in-law's house."
(Yerushalmi)
- Which matzah: Matzah with which one fulfills the obligation on Seder night. This has nothing to do with a chametz concern, since kosher matzah is not chametz. It is so that he comes to the Seder with an appetite, and so that eating the matzah will be a mitzvah.
- Matzah ashirah: Since it is not lechem oni and one does not fulfill the obligation with it, this prohibition does not apply to it.
- When the prohibition begins: Strictly speaking, from the fourteenth of Nisan, from the morning; and some hold even from the night before.
Understanding the comparison: an arusah in the times of Chazal
- What an arusah is: This does not mean "engaged" as we use the word today. In the time of the Gemara, erusin is what we do under the chuppah, "Behold you are betrothed to me with this ring according to the law of Moshe and Israel," and the woman is already halachically married to him and forbidden to anyone else.
- And still she is forbidden to him: In the blessing of erusin we say, "and He forbade to us those who are betrothed," and he may not live with her and may not even be in seclusion with her. The letters of arusah are the letters of asurah, forbidden.
- The force of the kiddushin: If the arus dies she is a widow; if he runs off and disappears she is an agunah and cannot marry anyone else. To marry another man she needs a get, for just as there is a get from marriage, there is a get from erusin.
- The interval: In the time of the Gemara there was a gap between erusin and nisuin, two or three months, up to a year, so that he could build her a home and prepare what she needed; the Chachamim gave her a year. During that period they would meet and eat at each other's homes and at their parents' homes, but seclusion was forbidden.
- Today: Immediately after the kiddushin we continue with the chuppah ceremony and recite the sheva berachos, which are the blessings of nisuin, and the woman becomes fully married.
- The point of the comparison: One who cohabits with his arusah in his father-in-law's house is a person with no patience. If he is in such a rush, let him move up the wedding. So too one who eats matzah on erev Pesach: in a few short hours the Seder night arrives and he can eat all the matzah he wants. Everything has its proper time.
An additional reason, and stringent customs
"It is forbidden by rabbinic law... so that there will be a distinction marking the eating of it in the evening."
(Mishnah Berurah)
- Two reasons: In the Gemara the reason is that he should eat with an appetite; the Rambam adds a second reason, that there should be a recognizable distinction showing that eating matzah at night is an important mitzvah.
(A similar reason is given for not blowing shofar on erev Rosh Hashanah, to distinguish between optional blasts and the blasts of obligation, and also to confuse the Satan.)
- From Rosh Chodesh Nisan: Some have the custom not to eat matzah from Rosh Chodesh Nisan. Some mention a period of thirty days, but the well known stringency is from Rosh Chodesh Nisan.
- Before erev Pesach: Strictly speaking there is no prohibition, and someone who bought matzos may taste them to check whether they are good. Obviously, eating a lot of matzah right before Pesach ruins the appetite for Seder night, but as a matter of halachah it is permitted. Even on Shabbos HaGadol there is no prohibition according to the plain law, since the prohibition applies only on erev Pesach.
"The Acharonim wrote that matzah that is puffed up or folded over, even though we are stringent to consider it chametz, may nonetheless not be eaten from dawn onward."
(Mishnah Berurah)
- Explanation: With a puffed up or folded matzah some are stringent to suspect chametz, since we do not know what got inside the fold. Even so, it may not be eaten from dawn of erev Pesach, since essentially it is still matzah.
What may be eaten from the tenth hour onward
"A small amount of fruit: the same applies to meat, fish, eggs and the like, but foods from the five grains are forbidden."
(Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 3)
"Or vegetables: whether raw or cooked."
(Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 4)
- What is permitted: Fruit, vegetables raw or cooked, meat, fish and eggs, provided he does not fill his stomach with them.
- The five grains: Forbidden, and for Ashkenazim even what was kneaded with fruit juices is forbidden, since they do not permit matzah ashirah.
- Even for Sephardim: From the tenth hour onward matzah ashirah should not be eaten, because it is filling and ruins the appetite for Seder night. Their leniency applies only before the tenth hour, and that is the main difference between them and Ashkenazim on erev Pesach.
An istenis (a delicate person)
"And if he is an istenis, for whom even eating a little is harmful to his eating later, everything is forbidden."
(Shulchan Aruch)
- Explanation: There are people for whom even a small amount of food closes them up and they cannot eat afterward. Although fruit, vegetables and meat are permitted at a late hour, someone who knows about himself that a little food will prevent him from eating at night should not eat at all.
Drinking wine
"He should not drink a small amount of wine, because it satiates."
(Shulchan Aruch)
- A little versus a lot: A small amount of wine satisfies and closes a person up, whereas a larger amount is permitted, because it actually draws out the appetite for food.
- How much is "a lot": The Mishnah Berurah explains that two cups, or most of two cups, is considered a lot, and that is permitted.
"Nevertheless, he should not drink so much that he becomes sated, for he will certainly ruin his appetite for food, and he may also become drunk and be unable to carry out what he must do that night."
(Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 7)
(In their times wine was a standard drink in place of water, since water was not easily available and in many places one had to go out to the wells. Someone unaccustomed to wine is satisfied by a small amount of it; someone accustomed to it is not. In this connection it was mentioned that it was Noach who began drinking wine.)
A child on erev Pesach
"A child who does not understand what is being told at night about the Exodus from Egypt may be fed matzah."
(Shulchan Aruch)
"Who does not understand: but if he has enough understanding to comprehend, one should not feed him matzah, for we expound the verse 'and you shall tell your son, because of this' - I said it only at a time when matzah and maror are lying before you. And if the son has filled his stomach with matzah, it is no longer fitting to say 'because of this,' since it is nothing new to him. And there is no difference between a boy and a girl."
(Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 13)
- The practical ruling: A child who does not understand anything about the Seder night may be fed matzah all day.
- A child who does understand: He should not be fed, so that eating matzah at night will be something new for him and the father will be able to say to him, "because of this."
- No difference between a boy and a girl: A daughter too will be obligated in the mitzvos of the night when she grows up.
Women's obligation in the mitzvos of the night
"You shall not eat chametz with it; for seven days you shall eat matzos with it."
(Devarim)
- What matzah is made from: The juxtaposition of these phrases teaches that the matzah with which one fulfills the obligation must be from something capable of becoming chametz. Therefore matzah of the mitzvah is made only from the five grains, and one may fulfill the obligation even with spelt or barley matzah.
- Women's obligation: Whoever is included in the warning of "you shall not eat chametz" is obligated in eating matzah. A woman is included in the prohibition of eating chametz, and is therefore obligated in eating matzah, even though this is a time bound positive mitzvah from which women are generally exempt.
- The other mitzvos of the night: There is a dispute here, and according to most poskim the obligation is not limited to matzah but includes the Haggadah, the four cups (which carry their own specific obligation in the Gemara), maror and korech. A woman is obligated in all of them just like a man.
- Reclining: Whether a woman is obligated in hesebah is a discussion of its own, and will be explained in its place.
- The parallel with Shabbos: "Whoever is included in guarding is included in remembering," since shamor and zachor were spoken in a single utterance, even though they do not appear in the same verse in the Ten Commandments. Therefore a woman is obligated in Kiddush, Havdalah, oneg Shabbos, seudah shelishis and all the mitzvos of Shabbos just like a man.
In passing · Matzah in the IDF and the Ashkenazi position on fruit juices
1. Why the army distributes regular matzos in the days before Pesach
- The supply consideration: Regular matzos are readily available and simple to supply in large quantities, whereas producing matzah ashirah on an army scale is not simple.
- The risk of a mishap: According to Ashkenazim, matzah ashirah could be considered chametz, and if it is left in the base or eaten on erev Pesach, it could lead to a mishap and even to a concern of chametz she'avar alav haPesach (chametz owned over Pesach). With regular matzah there is no such concern, since it is kosher according to all opinions in the days before erev Pesach.
- Rav Goren's ruling: It is preferable to supply regular matzah, so as not to get into this tangle.
- Leftover matzah ashirah: It is not certain that it is genuine chametz, since for Ashkenazim this is a stringency. Nor can it be compared to kitniyos, since kitniyos does not become chametz she'avar alav haPesach, whereas with matzah ashirah the concern, according to their view, is a concern of actual chametz.
2. The basis of the Ashkenazi position not to knead with fruit juices
- The claim: Fruit juices do cause leavening, or at the very least it is a doubt whether they do, and they may possibly leaven even faster than the standard time for a water dough. Where there is doubt, we are stringent.
- Concern of a water mixture: It is not easy to obtain fruit juice that is one hundred percent fruit juice. Squeezing fruit is done in a press that has moisture in it, and a small amount of water mixed into fruit juice certainly leavens. That is a stringency on top of a stringency.
- The practical conclusion: Ashkenazim cannot eat matzah ashirah on Pesach, and consequently not on erev Pesach either.
3. The wording of the statement and the mention of Yom Kippur
- The question that was raised: Does the phrase "like one who cohabits with his arusah in his father-in-law's house" also mention something about Yom Kippur?
- The clarification: In the version of the Yerushalmi that we have there is no mention of Yom Kippur; the statement deals with erev Pesach alone. It was noted that this expression also appears in Maseches Yevamos.
- The Yom Kippur matter: What is mentioned regarding five transgressions in a single day was said about Esav, and is unrelated to our topic.