Pt3 ‘Leḥem Oni’ vs. Luxury: ‘The Bread of Affliction’ and the Halakhic Boundaries of Passover Matza (Pesachim 35b-37b)

This is the third and final part of a three-part series. Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here; the outline of the series can be found at Part 1. The series is in honor of Passover. Chag Sameach!

Exemption from Ḥalla for Unusual Breads and Cakes: Exemptions for Certain Baked Goods; Definition of Pan-Fried Bread; Cooking Method Affects Obligation

A baraita lists several types of baked goods—sponge-like cakes,¹ honey cakes (דובשנין), “eskeritin",² “masret" (מסרת) bread (חלת), and breads made from a “mix” (מדומע - i.e. a mix of regular grain and teruma)—as being exempt from the obligation to separate ḥalla.³

R' Yehoshua ben Levi defines "masret" bread as “boiled [dough] of householders (בעלי בתים)".

A baraita distinguishes based on preparation method: bread or pastry which was baked in a pan:⁴ ḥalla must be separated; if sun-baked:⁵ it is exempt.

תנו רבנן:

1. הסופגנין

2. והדובשנין

3. ואיסקריטין

4. וחלת המסרת

5. והמדומע —

פטורים מן החלה.

מאי חלת המסרת?

אמר רבי יהושע בן לוי: זה חלוט של בעלי בתים.

[...]

1. הסופגנין

2. והדובשנין

3. והאיסקריטין,

עשאן באילפס — חייבין,

בחמה — פטורין

[...]

The Sages taught:

1. Sponge-like cakes,

2. honey cakes,

3. spiced cakes [eskeritin],

4. pan-fried bread [ḥallat hamasret],

5. and bread prepared from a mixture of permitted grain and teruma,

their owners are all exempt from ḥalla.

The Gemara clarifies these obscure terms. What is pan-fried bread?

R' Yehoshua ben Levi said: This is boiled bread baked by ordinary homeowners in a deep frying pan.

[...]

a baraita: With regard to

1. sponge-cakes,

2. honey cakes,

3. or spiced cakes,

if one prepared them in a pot, he is obligated to separate ḥalla.

However, if he prepared them in the sun, he is exempt from this mitzva.

[...]

Minimum Bake Standard for Valid Matza

“Hina" (הינה) and pan-baked matza are both valid (יוצאין - for the mitzvah of eating matza on first day of Passover).

Rav Yehuda citing Shmuel defines “hina" as follows: when broken (פורסה), no (dough) strands (חוטין) pull away.

Rava states that the same (validity of “hina” and pan-baked matza) also applies re loaves brought with a Toda offering.⁶

יוצאין

1. במצה הינא

2. ובמצה העשויה באילפס.

[...]

מאי מצה הינה?

אמר רב יהודה, אמר שמואל:

כל שפורסה,

ואין חוטין נמשכין הימנה.

אמר רבא: וכן לחמי תודה.

[...]

a baraita: One can fulfill the obligation to eat matza

1. with half-baked (hinna) matza

2. and pot-boiled matza.

[...]

The Gemara asks: What is half-baked (hinna) matza?

Rav Yehuda said that Shmuel said:

This refers to any matza that is sufficiently baked so that when it is broken

no strands of dough emerge from its sides.

Rava said: And likewise the loaves of the thanks-offering may be used if they have been baked to this extent.

[...]

Dispute over Boiled Dough and the Obligation of Ḥalla Separation

Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel disagree over two types of boiled dough:

• “Me’isa” (מעיסה - flour poured into boiling water, as explained in the next section): Beit Shammai exempts from ḥalla, while Beit Hillel obligates.

• “ḥalita” (חליטה - boiling water poured onto flour, as explained in the next section): their positions reverse.

המעיסה —

• בית שמאי — פוטרין,

• ובית הלל — מחייבין.

החליטה —

• בית שמאי — מחייבין,

• ובית הלל — פוטרין.

With regard to me’isa, dough that was boiled in water,

• Beit Shammai — exempt one from separating ḥalla,

• and Beit Hillel — obligate one to do so.

As for dough that has undergone the process of ḥalita,

• Beit Shammai — obligate one to separate ḥalla from it,

• and Beit Hillel — exempt.

Definitions of Me’isa and Ḥalita

The baraita goes on to explain that “me’isa” involves flour (קמח) being added to boiling water (מוגלשין), whereas “ḥalita” is the reverse: boiling water being added to flour.

איזהו המעיסה, ואיזהו החליטה?

• המעיסה — קמח שעל גבי מוגלשין,

• החליטה — מוגלשין שעל גבי קמח.

The Gemara asks: What is me’isa and what is ḥalita?

The Gemara explains:

• Me’isa — is dough prepared by pouring flour on boiling water [muglashin],

• whereas ḥalita — is formed by pouring boiling water on flour.

Dispute between R' Yishmael ben Yosei and Rabbis

There is a disagreement in his name: one version says both forms are exempt from ḥalla; another version claims both are obligated.

The Rabbis distinguish based on cooking method: if either me’isa or ḥalita is prepared in a pan, one is exempt; if baked in an oven (תנור - i.e. in the traditional method of placing the flatbread on the wall of a ‘tanur’; compare to the somewhat analogous modern-day brick-oven pizza), one is obligated to separate ḥalla.

רבי ישמעאל ברבי יוסי אומר, משום אביו:

זה וזה לפטור,

ואמרי לה:

זה וזה לחיוב,

וחכמים אומרים:

אחד זה ואחד זה,

עשאן באילפס — פטור,

בתנור — חייב.

R' Yishmael, son of R' Yosei, said in the name of his father:

From both this, me’isa, and that, ḥalita, one is exempt from separating ḥalla.

And some say that he said:

With regard to both this and that, one is obligated to separate ḥalla.

And the Rabbis say:

With regard to both this and that,

if one prepared them in a pot, he is exempt from the mitzva of ḥalla;

however, if he prepared the bread in an oven, he is obligated to separate ḥalla.

Appendix 3 - Table Summarizing Parts 2-3: Passover Matza Requirements – Rulings by Case and Authority

For a table summarizing the halachic rulings in Part 1 of this sugya, see Part 1, section “Appendix (Interlude) 1 - Table - summarizing the halakhic rulings and debates so far, around what kinds of matza are valid for fulfilling the mitzva on Passover, based on the sugya”. This table summarizes the rulings in Parts 2-3 of the sugya.

1. סופגנין.

As an aside, this word is the source for the modern Hebrew word for jelly-donut: sufganiya.

See Wikipedia, “Sufganiyah“, section “Etymology“:

The Hebrew word sufganiyah is a neologism for pastry, based on the Talmudic words sofgan and sfogga, which refer to a "spongy dough".

The word is built on the same root as the Modern Hebrew word for sponge (ספוג, sfog), which is derived from Koinē Greek […] spóngos (=“sponge”).

Sfenj, a Moroccan doughnut, comes from the same root.

And see Hebrew Wiktionary, “ספגניה“, section “גיזרון“, my translation:

The word סֻפְגָּן (sufgan) appears in the Mishnah and Talmud and is derived from ספוג (sponge). For example:

“Sufganin, devashanin, askritin, mashret loaves, and mixed doughs are exempt from challah;

dough that began and ended as sufganin is exempt from challah;

if it began as dough and ended as sufganin, or vice versa, it is obligated in challah.”
(Mishnah, Tractate Hallah 1:5)

Obadiah of Bartenura comments:

“Sufganin – bread made with soft batter and shaped like a sponge.

Another explanation: thin wafers.

Translation of ‘rakikei matzot’ is ‘aspogin.’”

From this Mishnaic word, David Yellin coined the modern Hebrew term סופגנייה (sufganiyah).

It first appeared in his 1897 translation of Oliver Goldsmith’s The Vicar of Wakefield (p. 77):

“When the sufganiyot brought to the table were beautiful, Oholivah’s hands had baked them.”

It also appears in his 1912 translation of One Thousand and One Nights (p. 30):
“Pastries, cakes, sufganiyot, and latkes.”
A note in that edition defines them as “soft baked goods.”

From the plural form sufganim, the common singular sufganiyah developed.

The Academy of the Hebrew Language initially derived the singular as sufganit.

For instance, in its 1938 Culinary Terms Dictionary (מלון האקדמיה למונחי המטבח), sufganit appears as the translation of “doughnut,” and sufgan as the translation of “fancy cake.”

And see Hebrew Wikipedia, “סופגנייה“, section “אטימולוגיה“, my translation, with slight adjustments:

The word sufganiyah was apparently coined by David Yellin in 1896 by adding the diminutive suffix “-iyah” to the word sufgan.

The word sufgan appears in the Mishnah:

in Tractate Keilim: “From when one kindles [the oven?] in order to bake old sifganim”,

and in Tractate Hallah: “And sifganin and divshanin and iskritin”,

which R’ Ovadiah of Bartenura explains:

“sufganin — bread made with a soft batter and shaped like a sponge.

First [interpretation]: thin cakes, translation of rekikei matzot, and aspogin.”

Bialik disapproved of the diminutive form “-iyah.” Instead, he proposed aspog (on the pattern of etrog) and its plural aspogim, and even used the word in his poems.

2. איסקריטין.

See Jastrow:

אִסְקְרִיטִין, אי׳

masculine plural

(Ispeel noun of קרט, compare חָלַט I, a. denominative)

“balls, a kind of paste”

Mekhilta Beshalach Vayas. 5:

כעין אסקריטי

(read … טין).

Hallah 1:4, Pesahim 37a, Yerushalmi Hallah 3:57d bottom of page

אי׳ חליטין דשוק

“isk’ritin are etc”

see חֲלִיטָא III.

3. Note: This discussion of hallah is tangential to the sugya’s primary focus—matza on Passover—and appears here only due to a thematic connection.

4. אילפס - from Greek lopắs (with added prosthetic aleph): “flat dish, plate, pan“. Here meaning, baked in an oven, as opposed to being baked by the heat of the sun.

5. חמה - a slower, less conventional method.

6. לחמי תודה - i.e. there’s a standard of minimal doneness for ritual validity.

On this animal sacrifice in general, see Wikipedia, “Thank offering“, with adjustments:

The “thanks-offering” (Hebrew: תֹּודָה, pronounced Todah) or “sacrifice of thanksgiving” (Hebrew zevakh ha-todah זֶבַח הַתֹּודָה ) was an optional offering under [Biblical law …]:

“If he offer it for a thanksgiving,

then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving:

1. unleavened cakes mingled with oil,

2. and unleavened wafers anointed with oil,

3. and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour, fried.

— Leviticus 7:12

The Hebrew noun todah "thanksgiving" is derived from the Hiphil of the verb yadah (יָדָה) "to praise."

[U]sed [in modern Hebrew to mean] "thank you[, thanks]".

Also note the Talmudic wordplay on the name of Jesus’ student Thaddeus (which the Talmud spells as תודה - playing off the Aramaic form of the [Greek] name: T(h)addai - תדי). as discussed in my piece “Joy, Waterskin, and Students of Jesus: Talmudic Wordplay on the Names of Heretics (Sukkah 48b; Sanhedrin 43a)“, section “Toda (=Thaddeus)“ , where I summarize (with adjustments):

Thaddeus (תודה - Toda) appeals to Psalms 100:1, which praises thanksgiving (תודה - toda), but the judges respond with Psalms 50:23, associating toda (“thanksgiving [offering]”) with slaughter (זובח).