Our Rabbis taught: You discharge
[your obligation] with fine bread, with coarse bread, and with Syrian cakes
shaped in figures; although [the Sages] said, ‘Syrian cakes shaped in figures
must not be made on Passover.’
So you can eat Syrian cakes if they’re made – you just can’t
make them! Why? Glad you asked:
Rab Judah said: This thing Boethus
b. Zonin asked the Sages: Why was it said [that] Syrian cakes shaped in figures
must not be made on Passover? Said they to him: Because a woman would tarry
over it and cause it to turn leaven. [But], he objected, it is possible to make
it in a mold, which would form it without delay. Then it shall be said, replied
they, [that] all Syrian cakes [shaped in figures] are forbidden, but the Syrian
cakes of Boethus are permitted!
R. Jose said: One may make Syrian
cakes like wafers, but one may not make Syrian cakes like rolls. We learned
elsewhere: Sponge cakes, honey cakes, paste-balls, cakes made in a mold, and
mixed dough are exempt from hallah (the obligation to set aside or burn
a portion of the dough).
And therefore, one would assume, are not really “bread.” The
text goes on to describe breads made in a stew pot called an ilpes. These
might be placed in the sun to bake. And the dough might be placed into a mold
to form a shape. Maybe this is professional bakers, maybe home-based.
There is
more discussion – but it’s all making me too hungry!
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