A pic of a mashgiach ritual purity supervisor of a Lakewood matza bakery (Thank K. for the pointer). I think the mashgiach of Hungary 1930 (pic below) took his job more seriously. I presume in a remote checkpoint of the Israeli Army, American immigrants may be debating how much matza is required for a kzayis according to the Law, in order to perform the mitzvah of matzoh. Kzayis means "a little" - now, isnt that a wonderful opportunity to discuss what IS "a little"? Anyone can have an opinion and be considered a man learned in the Tora (The Law).BTW, 20 dollars for a pound of matza is a steal.
6 comments:
I don't know - this mashgiach is more casually dressed but it looks like the farmer is answering some question - he is showing him with his hands how big something is or some such. In the other picture the old man looks more rabbinical with his black capote and his sefer, but it's not clear that he's actually doing anything. Sometimes the people who look the part are not the ones really doing the work.
K
Its very simple - a k'zayis is literally the size of an olive. BUT, how big is an olive? The rabbis tell us an olive is 1/2 the size or maybe 1/3 the size (depending which rabbi) of a beitzah (egg) . But, how big is an egg?
Etc. - you could spend 2,000 years debating this and indeed we have. And G-d willing we will spend 2,000 more. It sure beats blowing yourself up while shouting Alahu Akbar.
K
K
I dont want to be drawn into a talmudic controversy, but something is wrong. There is no way an olive could be half the size of an egg. Maybe we are talking about Biblical eggs, which were smaller than the genetically engineered eggs sold in the supermarket, or they were the eggs of some other bird and not chicken eggs. In Israel eggs are classified into three size categories, and size "aleph" is quite big. We need to consult an expert chicken farmer to have professional input on this important subject.
J, a giant olive can indeed be 1/2 the size of a hen's egg. Google "cerignola olive." The walnut sized Cerignola olive is the largest olive in the world. If an average black walnut weighs 17 grams and a k'zayis = 20 grams, then what? Well, the normal egg weight range is 35 gm to 77 gm. (www.goldeneggs.com/nutrition/what_is_an_egg.html)
2 X 17 = 34. 3 X 17 = 51. In Biblical times there might have been several sizes of olive with the giant olive preferred for eating and the smaller olives for oil and olive paste. Undoubtedly, Biblical eggs were smaller and Biblical cows gave less milk.
K, should I take more medication now or shout "Alahu Akbar" and blow myself up?
See - there's the spirit! We could be talmudists. The rabbis say that eggs were even BIGGER in ancient days. BUT, do we look at the size of eggs at the time of Moses (when the commandment to eat matzah began) or at the time the Talmud was written by the Rabbis?
These kind of mental gymnastics, although pointless in themselves, were (are) good preparation for the complexity of the modern world, especially when the rest of the world occupied itself with miraculous visions of the Virgin, etc.
People in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Bney Brak, who spend hours each day analyzing these "soogiyot" (issues), are knowe to be immune to Alzheimer and they live extra long lives. When my mother was alive, we used to visit relatives there and I went with the old man to the synagogue, where after afternoon prayer they sit and studied the Bible. The issue of that day was the making of the “mizbe'ah” - the altar. Precise measurements and instructions are given but since no one ever saw one, all is open to interpretation. As an engineer, I had my opinions, but my Yiddish is poor.
Post a Comment