Rabbi Eli Mansour, "Is it Permissible to Eat Egg Masa on Pesah?"
David Shasha
Is it Permissible to Eat Egg Masa on Pesah?
By: Rabbi Eli Mansour
Rabbi Mansour is a prominent Ultra-Orthodox rabbi in the Brooklyn Syrian Jewish community whose esteem for the Ashkenazim and their radical Judaism knows no bounds. In his view the Ashkenazim represent a truly authentic Judaism that is highly admirable.
Prior to the High Holidays last fall I posted an important discussion by Rabbi Mansour on the custom of Kapparot which was prohibited in the Shulhan Arukh but was prominently promoted by Ashkenazi rabbis:
In the following post we see once again how deeply Rabbi Mansour respects the Ashkenazim for their stringent rulings on ritual matters, Humrot.
It is curious that the title of the post makes use of Sephardic Hebrew pronunciation – Masa instead of Matzoh, Pesah instead of Pesach. And the discussion in the post does indeed make clear that Sephardic authorities follow the basic Talmudic prescriptions and does not forbid the use of Egg Matzah.
But in the course of the discussion Rabbi Mansour’s deep love of the Ashkenazim overwhelms him and he does something that has become common to Sephardim these days: He heaps great praise on the Ashkenazim for going “beyond” the Talmudic law – as if this is a good or desirable thing – and adopting the stringency of prohibiting Egg Matzah.
It is as if the Sephardic tradition – which is faithful to the Talmud – is somehow lacking in authenticity or wanting in its fidelity to Judaism.
The question is not asked why it is that the Ashkenazi rabbis saw fit to prohibit something that the Talmud permits.
The answer is clear: The Ashkenazi view of the Halakha is one that marks an occult mystical obsession with rituals. The pervasive idea in this tradition is to make ritual observance that much stricter and harsh because with this harshness will come a greater reward from God for doing more than what is required.
I have discussed the matter in more detail in my Huffington Post article “Dangerous Mystic Motifs in Judaism”:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-shasha/dangerous-mystic-motifs-i_b_637535.html
The philosophical and theological view that underpins this Halakhic process makes the Law into merely a starting-off point. The Law itself is not the final arbiter of Jewish conduct, but extra-legal means that turn the Jew into something “holy” and “sanctified.”
A view of the Law as fully lacking the requirements needed to truly be a good Jew is one based on zeal and superstition. All focus and attention is paid on the minutiae of the ritual Law while cultivation of the Arts and Sciences and the relations between human beings are deferred and made less pressing. According to this view it is the zealous obsession with “purifying” the body through the adoption of stringencies not required by the Law that is the desired state of the “real” Jew.
This of course leads to fanaticism and the creation of a religious elite which is then able to remove itself from the mass of Jews. Those who follow this “Humra lifestyle” look down on those who do not. The Halakha eventually becomes not what the Talmud says it is, but what this new stringent practice says. Zeal has displaced the normative practice of the Law. It is then possible – and desirable – to add stringencies capriciously and force them on the community.
On the packages of Streit’s Egg Matzah you will indeed find a small note – it has been there for as long as I can remember – that states the custom of the Ashkenazim as decisive. Strangely, the note says that Egg Matzah is prohibited according to the “Shulhan Arukh” when in fact Rabbi Joseph Qaro did not rule that way. But the ruling the RAMA – Moses Isserlitch – is not found in an independent legal treatise, but is interspersed as a gloss in the text of the Shulhan Arukh. So it becomes necessary to identify the textual source of the prohibition as the Shulhan Arukh even though its author held otherwise.
Like much of the Ashkenazi rabbinical tradition, this gloss is an attempt – as we see in Rabbi Mansour’s commentary – to undermine the Sephardic tradition from within by setting its view against the Sephardic view. It is one thing for Ashkenazim like RAMA to write independently of the Sephardic literary tradition, quite another to impose their views by superimposing them on the body of the Sephardic legal texts through the use of glosses. It is a form of legal confrontation and religious intimidation.
It is not simply the culture of Humra that is at play in this discussion of Ashkenazim and Sephardim. Humra is a cautionary symbol for a self-hating Sephardi community that is not content to follow its own traditions. The grass seems always to be greener on the other side. Sephardim have fallen to the allure of the Ashkenazi radical tradition in many ways. We have forgotten our own literature, history, and religious values.
So while there will be many Sephardim who will reject and belittle Rabbi Mansour’s ritual fanaticism and his occult view of Judaism, those same Sephardim should ask themselves how far they have strayed from the classical Sephardic heritage and its agenda. Those who look askance at Rabbi Mansour will find that they – like him – have internalized many parts of the Ashkenazi religious agenda and have become veritable strangers to the voluminous literature of our Sephardic masters. Such Sephardim are constantly seeking to present responses to the Ashkenazim rather than actually preserve their own history and culture in its own context and intellectual setting.
I have discussed the matter in some detail in my article “A Broken Frame: Sephardi Occlusion and the Repairing of Jewish Dysfunction”:
While many will see Rabbi Mansour as fanatical and absurd, we must ask whether it is only the Ultra-Orthodox who have abandoned the Sephardic tradition. Are those who have embraced the Modern Orthodox system not also straying from the rich heritage of our Sephardic past?
DS
The
Gemara in Masechet Pesahim establishes that if dough is kneaded with fruit
juice, as opposed to water, it cannot become Hames; unlike water, fruit juice
does not have the ability to cause dough to become leaven as defined by Halacha.
Most Rishonim (Medieval Talmudic scholars) understand this ruling to mean that
dough kneaded with fruit juice cannot become Hames at all. Rashi, however, in
his commentary, explains that the dough in this case cannot become Hames
"Mi'de'orayta" – according to Torah law. On the level of Rabbinic
enactment, however, fruit juice is equivalent to water in its ability to cause
dough to leaven.
The Shulhan Aruch, in Siman 462, accepts the majority position, which maintains
that fruit juices do not cause dough to become leaven at all. Thus, he writes,
one may eat Masa prepared in this manner – which is commonly referred to as
"egg Masa" – on Pesah, provided that he is certain that not a single
drop of water was mixed into the dough. If water is added to a mixture of dough
and fruit juices, the dough becomes Hames immediately. Thus, partaking of egg
Masa is permissible only if it was prepared under strict supervision, such that
it can be ascertained that no water was mixed into the dough.
A number of later authorities follow the Shulhan Aruch's lenient ruling,
including the Peri Hadash (commentary by Rav Hizkiya Da Silva, 1659-1698) and
the Hida (Rav Haim Yosef David Azulai, 1724-1806). The Hida adds that his
grandfather, Rav Avraham Azulai, testified to the fact that the Jewish communities
in Spain had the custom to eat
egg Masa on Pesah.
Ashkenazim generally follow the ruling of the Rama (Rabbi Moshe Isserles, Poland, 1525-1572) who held
that one should satisfy the stringent view of Rashi and abstain from egg Masa
on Pesah. The practice of the Ashkenazim is to allow egg Masa only for the
elderly or ill patients who find it difficult to partake of standard Masa.
It should be noted that Pesah is customarily a time when people follow
stringencies that are not required on the strict level of Halacha. Accordingly,
even a Sepharadi who wishes to follow the stringent view and refrain from
eating egg Masa on Pesah may certainly do so, and regarding such a person it is
said "Tavo Alav Beracha" ("he is deserving of blessing").
According to the strict Halacha, however, Sephardic practice, as found in the
work Hazon Ovadia written by Hacham Ovadia Yosef on page 118, allows eating egg
Masa during Pesah, provided that it was prepared under strict supervision.
Summary: Sephardic custom allows eating egg Masa on Pesah, on the condition
that it has reliable Kashrut certification. Nevertheless, those who wish to be
stringent, in accordance with the general custom to be stringent on Pesah, may
certainly do so. Ashkenazim permit eating egg Masa on Pesah only for the
elderly and ill patients.
From Daily Halachah, March 11, 2013