88 Friday, April 2, 1982
•
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
The History of Matza and the Industrial Revolution
By RABBI DAVID GEFFEN
World Zionist Press Service
JERUSALEM — Wind-
ing your way through the
narrow side streets of Mea
Shearim in Jerusalem dur-
ing the month before
Passover, there is really
only one goal in mind: to
witness the ancient art of
the baking of matza shmura
(watched matza) by hand.
The process involves a team
effort guaranteeing that the
finished matza be com-
pleted in under 18 minutes,
before any leavening is
possible.
The "mixer" mixes a
specific amount of flour and
water, creating a blob of
dough and passes it to be cut
into two. Then a "roller"
takes over. He can be a
hasid of a specific sect, an
American tourist who
wants to do something exo-
tic, a yeshiva boy with long
side-curls and his talit
hanging -out, or a young
religious Sephardi who par=
ticipates annually in this
special mitzva. Young men
from all over Israel volun-
teer for this "labor of love."
The dough is turned into a
flat cake in a matter of min-
utes, then passed on to the
"perforator," who rolls a de-
vice over the "matza to be,"
perforating it throughout.
The baker artistically picks
it up on a thin stick and de-
ftly places the thin dough
circle into the very hot stone
Baking slunura matza in Jerusalem.
delay in the baking, thereby
resulting in the leavening
process beginning. Thinner,
unadorned matza thus be-
came the rule.
In the 18th and 19th Cen-
turies, it became a custom
for some to earn their living
by baking matza. While this
was mainly true in Eastern
Europe, it was also the case
Most of the matza con- in England.
sumed worldwide is
In 19th Century Lon-
much less expensive,
don, the matza bakers
square, uniformly thin
and crisp. The shmura were well known. They
matza in its round shape were Moses Levy,
relates back to the pas- nicknamed Moses Baker,
sage in Exodus 12:39 in Wentworth Street;
where mention is made of Isaac Solomons in the
court off Cutler Street;
"uggot matzot." "Uggot"
can have the double Issy Lyons of-Middlesex
Street; Sam Abrahams in
meaning of cakeS or cir-
cles. Hence most matza Gravel Lane; and Capu,
until the late 19th Cen- who baked only for the
Sephardim. The
tury remained round.
Matza has also varied in monopoly of these bakers
was a cause for concern,
thickness. In some of the
North African countries the and in 1840 the Matza
matza was made so thick Association was formed
that it had to be crumbled to lower the price of
when eaten. In Talmudic matza.
The great controversy
times, some matza was
decorated with figures. It over matza arose with the
was not unusual, according invention of the matza
to the Talmud, to see matza machine at the end of the
with the shapes of doves, 19th Century. While the
fish, animals and flowers, or matter was most contested
in the Western countries, it
with chains to recall the
was resolved by the Kovno,
bondage in Egypt.
The intervention of the Lithuania Rabbi Yitzhak
rabbis ended the ornamen- Elchanan Spektor. He dealt
tation of matza. It was with the topic when it be-
argued that the extra - came clear that the machine
thicknesses and other em- was permissible according
bellishments could cause to Halakha for then there
oven. Within 60 seconds the
matza is ready and has been
taken out to cool. From flour
and water to matza in 10 to
11 minutes maximum,
sometimes less.
The finished product will
sell for a very high price and
each year there never seems
to be enough.
An Israeli tank crew in the Sinai Desert last year
is shown eating matza during Passover.
was a real crisis threaten-
ing the livelihood of a large
number of people.
The rabbi ruled that in
America the machine could
be used without any reser-
vations because there was
no tradition of families bak-
ing matza. However, he
prohibited its use in Europe
as it could cause widespread-
unemployment. After a
brief period of time, the
machine came into use the
world over, and it is from
these machines that most
matza is made today.
During World War II, the
concentration camp in-
mates were denied matza
and sometimes even found
it difficult to discover the
date of Passover. A prayer
was composed for those in-
dividuals who had to eat
bread on Passover since
they had no matza. There
are today difficulties in the
provision of matza in the
Soviet Union, and attempts
are made each year to ship
matza supplies to Soviet
Jews.
Matza, no matter in
what - shape it is eaten,
will never cease to be the
fundamental item -in the
Passover diet because it
is the "lehem oni," the
bread of affliction. It re-
minds us that while there
are Jews being perse-
cuted and enslaved in
various parts of the
world, we have a respon-
sibility to help free them
from their affliction.
The thin matza calls on
each of us to ensure that
every_ Jew may go from "av-
dut," slavery, unto "herut,"
freedom.
The Fragrance of Passover—Judaism and Ecology
By DVORA WAYSMAN
World Zionist Press Service
Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
For lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of singing is come,
And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
And the fig tree puts forth her green figs,
And the vines in blossom give forth their fragrance .
These beautiful lines are And give_ Thy chosen city
safe foundation
from the "Song of Songs"
that we read on the Inter- In dew . . .
"Ecology" is 'a word that
mediate Sabbath of
Passover. They are very came into usage only re-
appropriate, for Passover cently, but its roots go back
has two aspects: the histori- to the Bible. With the belief
cal origin of the Exodus in one God came the inter-
from Egypt and the less relationship of organisms
well-known but equally im- and their environment per-
portant agricultural theme. ceived as a unity, created
Passover, Hag HaMatzot, and set into motion by God.
The ancient Midrash
is a festival of early spring
in Israel, and was cele- (Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7:13)
brated by the farmers bring- tells how God showed Adam
ing the first fruits, a grain the beauty of the Garden of
Eden, and said to him: "See
offering, to the Temple.
An important part of the - how lovely and how worthy
Passover service in the of praise are My works.
synagogue is also the prayer They have all been created
for your sake. Take care not
for dew: •
Dew, pr'ecious Dew, unto to spoil or destroy My
world." We can only inter-
Thy land forlorn.
Pour out our blessing in pret this to mean that
Jewish teachings prohibit
Thy exultation,
To strengthen us with ample man's exercising the kind of
uncontrolled exploitation of
wine and corn
nature that, if persisted in,
will eventually destroy the
world and man himself.
There were many rules
laid down to protect the
environment, even in
Rabbinic times, such as
those dealing with waste
disposal. We learn that
saintly men would bury
broken glassware deep in
their own fields (Bava
Kama 30a). A dovecot
was not to be kept within
50 cubits of a town. Car-
casses, graves and tan-
neries were to be kept at
least 50 cubits from a city,
with the tannery set up in
such a way that the winds
would not waft unpleas-
ant odors to the city.
The Mishna (Bava Kama
7:7) also ruled that goats or
sheep should not be raised
in the uncultivated areas of
the Land of Israel because of
the damage they might
cause to young plants.
Deuteronomy 20:19 pro-
hibits destroying fruit-
bearing trees and, in fact,
destroying anything of
value — known in Rabbinic
tradition as "bal tashhit"
(do not destroy).
The Bible teaches us that
man can remain a harmoni- Centuries of destruction, but creation is equally
ous part- of-his environment neglect and abuse had important. When we read
"The Song of Songs" and
only so long as the culture eroded its fertile beauty.
The reclamation and con- the prayer for dew, we
he develops is consistent
with nature. Psalm 104 is a servation of the soil were a are echoing the ecologi-
first priority when Israel cal framework, the cycle
paeon of praise:
of nature.
You make springs gush
Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us,
forth in the valleys . . .
They give drink to every beast of the fields . . .
"To everything there is a
The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,
season," and Passover in Is-
The cedars of Lebanon which He planted
rael is spring, a time of re-
In them the birds built their nests . . .
birth anti revival. -
The high mountains are for the wild goats,
Solomon's "Song of
The rocks are a refuge for the conies . . .
Songs" is not only exquisite
The phrase "A Land of was resettled. It has been love poetry, it conveys the
Milk. and Honey," which is said that the history of a na- message of loVe using the
used to describe Israel, has tion is written in the way in progression of the seasonal
its origin in Numbers 13:12. which it cares for its soil. events in nature, events
Moses sent spies to scout the Judaism affirms that the with which the ancient Is-
land of Canaan, which had world is God's creation and raelites were intimately
been promised to the Israel- whoever helps to preserve it familiar. Today they still
ites. Their report was: "We is doing God's work.
play an important role in
came to the land . . . and it
At Passover, redemp- the agricultural life cycle of
flows with milk and honey."
tion is the primary theme, modern Israel.
What did they really see?
Archeology has revealed
that the early inhabitants of
Canaan lived mostly in the
rich, well-watered valleys
and plains. Many hills and
slopes were covered with
forests where wild goats
foraged — hence the "flow of
milk." These same forests
yielded many varieties of
flowers which fed wild bees
— and so "the honey" also
twai
flowed.
With the modern reset-
.tr1.:$7 , v1
r1.3n
tlement of the Land of Is-
.43
1
rael, again came the inter-
relationship of the Jewish
people with their environ-
ment and their concern with
making the desert bloom.
The land to which the Jews
This Seder plate owned by the Israel Museum was
returned was very different
from the land they had left. made in 1673 in Padua, Italy.
;