A great debate has raged over the last one hundred and eighty years, regarding matzah made by machine, rather than by hand. The fact is, however, that the early responsa on the subject are actually irrelevant, as the nature of the machine process used today is nothing like the one discussed in the early literature. The handmade matzot required, after the dough was kneaded, to be rolled very thin, especially in Ashkenazi tradition. This was both time consuming, and labor intensive. From the adding of the water, until the baking, had to be under eighteen minutes.
In the late 1830s, a gadget was developed in which the dough could be put in, and a series of rollers would make the dough flatter and flatter. (Similar to a pasta maker). This gadget was hand cranked to make it work. The several minutes needed to roll the dough of each matzah...now changed to two minutes...for an entire batch. Immediately, battle lines were drawn.
Most of the East European rabbis considered this invalid...and maybe even Hametz. How do we know that pieces of dough aren't getting caught in the works, becoming hametz, and falling back into the the unbaked matzah? Also, this would negatively affect the income of elderly widows, who were dependent for their salaries for the entire year on the months of kneading matzah. They would now starve.
And finally, and probably most significantly, it was a change in something that was as old as the Jewish people itself. Reform was on the rise. The slippery slope was staring the rabbis in the face. The rabbis of Central and Western Europe, on the other hand, considered this gadget to be a great boon. Matzah would become cheaper. The preparation time would be vastly shortened, preventing the possibility of the dough becoming hametz. As to cleaning, the stainless-steel machine parts were, in fact, much easier to keep clean that the wooden rolling pins used traditionally. Many of these rabbis recommended that everyone switch to the machine method.
Later, the process became completely automated, with different pluses and minuses. Flour and water were automatically placed into a great mixing bowl, which did the job in seconds. A conveyor belt would move the dough along to be flattened, have the customary holes poked into the the matzah just before baking, cut into individual matzot, put through a temperature controlled oven, where the matzah would bake evenly; enough time to do the job, but less time than would take to become burnt. The entire process, about three minutes.
Many rabbis raised several basic issues. Firstly, the machine was always going. The mixing bowl was never emptied. Parts of the mix could be there for much more than eighteen minutes. Supporters of the machine process countered that, except for one prominent seventeenth century rabbi, the time factor was, according to the Talmud, irrelevant, as long as the dough was being kneaded and mixed. As to the dissenting rabbi's view, surely the powerful electric machinery was doing a much better job of mixing and kneading than an overworked, exhausted baker.
As some rabbis still objected that Ashkenazi tradition had, for nearly 300 years, largely abided by that rabbi's opinion, it was decided that two separate lines would be maintained; one that would run continuously, and one in which the machines would be stopped and be thoroughly cleaned every eighteen minutes. The former are known as "peshutot" (simple), the latter as "18 minute matzah". The process of stopping and cleaning slowed down the operation, therefore raising the price, but the product was still far cheaper than hand matzah. For those who wanted shmurah matzah, runs were also made using shmurah guarded flour.
Many rabbis still objected, since for most mitzvot, there is a requirement of "intent". When hand matzot are manufactured, everyone involved repeats often "for the sake of mitzvah matzah". A machine could not have intent. Even if the machine was started by someone with intent, can we say that intent is still there hours later, while the machine works continually on its own? Many countered that we have no solid evidence that matzah needs intent in baking, only that it be guarded from becoming hametz. No problem. An observant Jew will always be present during the baking, watching out for any glitch.
The advantage? Low cost, and speed pf baking, with essentially no room for human error. Just for comparison, a pound (453.592 grams) of hand shmurah matzah costs about $30. A pound of machine shmurah costs about $10, a pound of 18-minute matzah costs about $7. A pound of peshutot is theoretically $1, but is almost always given out for free by supermarkets. A free package of 5 pounds is usually given out for every $100 spent on other products.
Some, especially most Hassidim, insist on hand shmurah for the entire holiday. Many others will buy hand shmurah for the sedarim, and use machine shmurah, or 18-minute matzah, for the rest of the holiday, when intent in baking is not required. Many Sepharadim, unconcerned with the minority opinion that even when kneaded continually, the dough can still become hametz, will use peshutot, except for the sedarim.
There are some rabbis who consider the efficiency of the machine process to outweigh considerations of intent, and therefore prefer machine matzot, even for the sedarim. There are fanatics on both sides; those who insist that now that we have machine matzot, hand matzah is unacceptable, and those who, when they burn their left over hametz on the morning before Passover, make sure to have a box of machine matzot on the top of the pyre, that all may see that they regard it as hametz.
Personally, I use hand shmurah (Sepharadi style) for the sedarim, and peshutot for the rest of the holiday. I understand and respect those who use only hand shmurah, as well as those who use peshutot even for the sedarim. I can see no clear right or wrong for either side in this issue. In my next post, i will go into the huge controversy of the "k'zayit", the "olive's bulk" required in many of the seder rules, as well as in certain halachic criteria for all year round.
