Spelt Matzah for Pesach

Matzos Mitzvah

Pesach matzah may be made from any one of the five grains: wheat, barley, spelt, rye, and oats.¹

However, the Rema² adds that the minhag is to specifically use wheat matzah for the mitzvah (the first night m’d’oraisa and the second night m’d’rabbonon).

The Shulchan Oruch HaRav³ classifies this minhag as a mitzvah min hamuvchar due to the greater status of wheat, whereas the Mishnah Berurah⁴ seems to base it more on chavivus, adding that there is an element of hiddur mitzvah in using wheat. (If hiddur mitzvah applies, one should pay up to one third more in price⁵ for wheat matzah).

Either way, it is clear that at least for the mitzvah, the minhag is to use wheat matzah specifically.

The Rest of Pesach

Is there any reason to prefer wheat matzah throughout the rest of Pesach, or are the other grains just as acceptable?

Barley Matzah

There is a fundamental difference between wheat and barley – barley becomes chometz more rapidly. As the Gemara⁶ states: L’sisa⁷ is prohibited with barley but permitted with wheat, because barley ferments at a faster rate.

This leads to an important question regarding the use of barley flour for matzah.

The Leket Yosher⁸ writes that the custom is not to use barley. The Minchas Yitzchak⁹ similarly explains that the established shiur of eighteen minutes (in which time dough becomes chometz) might only apply to wheat flour. For barley flour, which becomes chometz faster, we have no mesorah. Therefore, barley matzah should be avoided.

However, other Poskim disagree. The Cheshev Ha’Eifod¹⁰ argues that the Gemara seems to permit all five grains and gives the eighteen-minute shiur without limiting it to wheat flour only. The Shulchan Oruch likewise makes no such distinction and allows the other grains to be used for making matzah. He therefore concludes that although wheat is preferred, when wheat is unavailable or difficult to use, barley flour may be used.¹¹

Oat and Rye Matzah

The Gemara¹² writes that spelt is a type of wheat, while oats and rye are a type of barley.

The Shulchan Oruch HaRav¹³ and the Mishnah Berurah¹⁴ both write decisively that rye and oat kernels have the same din as barley in that they become chometz faster than wheat. Hence, the above-mentioned machlokes between the Minchas Yitzchak and the Cheshev Ha’Eifod would also apply to oat and rye matzah.

Spelt

There are a number of reasons to assume that spelt has the same status as wheat.

As mentioned, the Gemara says that spelt is a type of wheat. Also, every time the Poskim contrast wheat and barley regarding the speed at which they become chometz, they only mention rye and oats together with barley and not spelt. In addition, the Maharsham¹⁵ writes that, in a case of need, it is permitted to mix spelt flour with wheat flour for baking matzah, even though one should not mix barley flour with wheat flour.

Nevertheless, it is not so simple.

The Mishnah in Challah¹⁶ teaches that one may not combine dough made from two diverse types of grain to make a shiur challah. Accordingly, wheat does not combine with any other type of grain except spelt. However, per that Mishnah, spelt also combines with barley. Based on this, Tosafos¹⁷ writes that when the Gemara says spelt is a type of wheat, it means that it is also a type of wheat, because in truth it is part of the barley family as well. It is therefore plausible that, just as the 18-minute shiur established for wheat may not apply to barley, it may also not apply to spelt flour.

For this reason, the Minchas Yitzchak writes that one should avoid spelt matzah on Pesach unless required for health reasons; in which case it may be used (l’chatchila).

However, in addition to the argument of the Cheshev Ha’Eifod mentioned earlier, there is another strong reason to deem spelt matzah perfectly acceptable, even considering the above. In modern matzah baking, the process usually takes only a few minutes from the moment flour meets water until it is baked. Also, the halacha is¹⁸ that as long as the dough is being worked on, it does not become chometz. Therefore, even if spelt flour were to become chometz more quickly and the 18-minute shiur would not apply, it is still highly unlikely that it would become chometz under contemporary bakery conditions.

In conclusion

There is a preference to use wheat matzos, especially for the sedorim. People with sensitivity to wheat may use spelt l’chatchila, considering contemporary baking conditions. Oat matzah should only be used by people that cannot tolerate wheat or spelt at all.

1  Pesachim 2:5. S”A, O”C 453:1.
2  Ibid.
3  O”C 453:2.
4  O”C 453:2.
5  O”C 658.
6  Pesachim 40a.
7  Placing the kernels in water to help separate the bran.
8  Page 72. See also Tiferes Yisroel on Pesachim 2:27.
9  Shu”t Minchas Yitzchak 9:49.
10 Shu”t Cheshev Ha’Eifod 3:9.
11  See also Shulchan Oruch HaRav 466:6 and Mishnah Berurah 466:3, who apply the 18-minute shiur to barley kernels—supporting the Cheshev Ha’Eifod’s position. However, this does not refute the Minchas Yitzchak, since those sources address whole kernels, whereas he is discussing barley flour.
12  Pesachim 35a.
13  453:20.
14  453:26.
15  Daas Torah 453:3.
16  4:2. S”A Y”D 324:2.
17  Pesachim 35a D”H Kusmin.
18  Pesachim 48b. O”C 459:2.