Articles

By Rabbi Dovid Cohen, Administrative Rabbinic Coordinator

Q. Are all handmade sh’murah matzos basically the same (from a kashrus perspective) or are there differences I should be looking out for?

A. The task of creating matzah sh’murah can be divided into two parts – avoiding chametz and making it “lishmah” – and matzah bakeries use different methods to accomplish those goals.

The first part is making sure the flour and water mixed together to create matzah does not mistakenly become chametz.  That begins with harvesting the wheat just before it ripens (so that it does not get rained on after it is ripe) and setting aside water each evening (mayim shelanu) for the next day’s baking.  As is well known, once the flour and water are mixed, they must be baked within 18 minutes, and on a basic level, that is something that all bakeries will be careful about.  To do this properly, every 18 minutes there must be a thorough cleaning of all surfaces and equipment so that bits of dough from one batch do not end up sticking to matzah from the next batch.  [Some of the other halachic requirements relate to windows in the bakery, additives to the water, required time between milling wheat and its use, using very small amounts of flour per batch, ensuring matzos are fully baked, and avoiding matzos with folds or bubbles.]

The halacha also dictates that if the dough becomes hot/warm, it will become chametz in even less than 18 minutes, unless the dough is being kneaded or otherwise worked on (esek), since that action prevents chimutz.  Two things which complicate things are (a) kneading causes friction that heats the dough, and (b) the bakery’s oven will heat up the work area unless special steps (e.g., fans, air conditioning, walls) are taken to avoid it.  It is not clear exactly how quickly a “fast” chimutz happen once the dough gets hot, and, therefore, the optimal setup is that the dough has continual esek until it goes into the oven.

The other part of creating handmade sh’murah matzah is to ensure that it is made with intention that it can be used for the mitzvah of eating matzah at the Seder; this is known as “lishmah”.  It is most preferred that the matzah be lishmah from the time the grain is harvested from the ground, and handmade matzah typically meets that requirement.  [Machine-made matzah typically does not.]

Lishmah should be created by the people working with the dough (mixing, kneading, rolling, etc.), and this leads to a significant difference between brands of matzah.  Some take the position that only a Shomer Shabbos Jew (male or female) is qualified to have the proper intention to create lishmah, and, therefore, all employees working with flour, water, or dough, must be Shomrei Shabbos.  Others take a more lenient position and will use anyone for those tasks.

A relatively recent innovation is that some bakeries use different types of non-electric, human-powered, devices to help in matzah baking.  This might be a two-part roller, a foot-operated kneading pan, or other devices.  Some are concerned that these devices compromise the lishmah of these matzos, since there is less personal involvement in the work, but most see these merely as efficiencies (which are very helpful in preventing chimutz), which do not affect lishmah, since they are 100% powered by human efforts.

This article first appeared in the Let’s Talk Kashrus column, Yated Ne’eman, March 14, 2025.