Gebrochts

Gebrochts (Yiddish: געבראָכטס‎, lit. 'broken', also gebrokts) refers to matzo that has absorbed liquid. In contemporary Hebrew, "gebrochts" is known as "matza sh'ruyah," or "soaked matzo." Gebrochts is an aspect of Passover kashrut observed by many in the Hasidic Jewish community, and among some other Ashkenazi Jewish groups influenced by Hasidism.

During the holiday of Passover, Jews are forbidden to eat any of five grains specified in the Talmud — wheat, barley, spelt, oats, and rye — if they have been "leavened." Leavening (Hebrew: חמוץ‎‎, chimutz) is defined as flour of one of these grains combined with water and allowed to sit for more than 18 minutes before being baked. Once flour has been reacted with water and rapidly baked into matzo, it is no longer subject to leavening. According to this argument, matzo and its derivatives are neither "leavened" nor "leavenable" and therefore are permissible for consumption during Passover. A reading of the tractate Pesahim from the Babylonian Talmud (c. 500) makes it clear that in Talmudic times, matzo soaked in water was permitted during Passover; the Ashkenazi rabbi and exegete, Rashi (c. 1100), also indicates that this was unobjectionable (Berachot 38b).

However, the custom later developed among some Ashkenazim, primarily Hasidic Jews, to avoid putting matzo (or any derivative, such as matzo meal) into water (or any liquid), to avoid the possibility that a clump of flour that was never properly mixed with water (and thus is still susceptible to leavening) may come into contact with the liquid. According to Rabbi Yitzchak Eizik of Vitebsk, the custom originated with Dov Ber of Mezeritch. (This appears, for example, in Shulchan Aruch HaRav, c. 1800.) Therefore, some Jewish communities, especially Hasidic Jews, do not eat matzo ball soup during Passover. "Non-gebrochts" recipes and products generally substitute potato starch for matzo meal.

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