ShmurahMatzah 101: What It Is, When You Need It, and How to Choose

- The mitzvahmatzah on the night of the Seder must be \"shmurah\" matzah, since the Torah commands, \"And you shall guard the המצות"

- \"The guarding\" — it means guarding against leavening.

- There is a debate among the poskim about when the matzah must be guarded from leavening, with several approaches:

-  First approach: \"Guarded from the time of harvest\", meaning: the wheat has been kept from leavening from the moment it was cut

- Second approach: \"Guarded from the time of grinding\", meaning: the flour has been guarded from leavening from the time it was milled

-  Thirdapproach: \"Guarded from the time of kneading\", meaning: the dough has been guarded from the time of kneading

- All matzot sold today are \"shmurah\" matzot, but the start time of the guarding differs:      

-  There are matzot guarded from harvest — for mehadrin

- There are matzot guarded from grinding — the basic requirement   

-  There are matzot guarded from kneading — (not common today)

When You Must Eat ShmurahMatzah at the Seder

- On the night of Pesach—that is, at the Seder—there is a Torah obligation and mitzvah to eat shmurahmatzah:

- Lechatchila and for the mehadrin: Guarded from the time of harvest (and preferably handmade, as explained below)

- Bediavad : Guarded from the time of grinding

Handmade vs. Machine-Made Matzah

- Handmade matzah: made start to finish by people, not by machine

- Machine-made matzah: produced by machine, not by people

- The mitzvahmatzah—the one eaten at the Seder:

-  Lechatchila: it should be handmade (and, of course, also shmurah as explained above)

-  From the letter of the law: it may be machine-made (but it must still be shmurah)

What About the Rest of Pesach?

- On the other days of the holiday, there is no obligation to eat matzah at all; it is optional, and if one does eat matzah, one fulfills a mitzvah

- Still, someone who wants to eat matzah on Pesach does not have to eat shmurah guarded from harvest; one may, lechatchila eat shmurah guarded from the time of grinding—often called \"regular matzah\"

- Some have the practice to eat shmurah guarded from harvest all Pesach. A person who has done so every year and this year wants to eat regular matzah (i.e., shmurah from grinding or kneading):

- If one wants to cancel that practice entirely and eat regular matzah in all future years: they should perform an annulment of their practice

- If one was under duress or ill, or cannot obtain shmurah from the time of harvest, and wants to deviate only this  

one year from harvest-guarded shmurah: they may eat regular matzah without doing an annulment

- For the other days of the holiday, you may, lechatchila, eat matzah made by machine (and only on the Seder night it is praiseworthy to be meticulous and eat handmade matzah)

Quick Recap

- For the Seder night, the ideal is shmurah from the time of harvest and handmade (although machine-made matzah is still kosher)

- For the other days of the holiday, you may, lechatchila, eat shmurah from the time of grinding (the regular matzot sold) — some are strict and eat shmurah from harvest all of Pesach

- For the other days of the holiday, you may, lechatchila, eat matzah made by machine