Thread by @lennybendavid

#Purim's over; costumes are in the attic. With some trepidation, many Jews see the #Passover preparations & cleaning ahead.
Traditionally, this is a time to get Matza for the holiday.
125 y.a. students at Mikve Yisrael ag school were harvesting wheat. Why was a Rabbi there?
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Making of Matza is very meticulous. No water can enter the process until the last minute, lest the grain, flour, or matza becomes leavened. Must complete the process from the second H2O is added to the flour, kneaded, rolled out & baked in under 18 minutes.
Rabbis supervise.

2 types of Matza made in the Ashkenazi world -- machine-made & hand-made. Below: Round hand-made baked in the UAE & machine-made in Haifa ~ 1920.
Workers had signs up to remind them to have intention to fulfill the mitzva of matza; it's not automatic.
Also a sign: don't smoke.

#Passover matza. There's no way Moses & the Israelites ate cardboard matza.
Sephardi/Mizrachi matza is soft.
Look at staged pic of Yemenites having seder in early 20th century. That's NOT their matza on the table. (American Colony photographer)
Another seder: Hibani Yemenites

Interesting facts about Matza today.
The matza baking machine invented in 1838. Of course, a halachic controversy erupted. Hassidic rabbis preferred hand-made. Lithuanian rabbis felt machine-made less likely to make errors (& chametz).
It's all cardboard. I'm checking out soft.