Prime Minister’s Matzos Reportedly Thrown Out
The Israeli media was lit up this morning by rumors that the Kfar Chabad Matzah bakery threw out the Matzos baked by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit Tuesday morning. The rumors were fueled by the perceived animosity between Israel’s Ultra-Orthodox community and the Prime Minister, after he excluded their political parties from his coalition government.
Chabad’s spokesperson in Israel, Rabbi Menachem Brod, admitted that the Matzos baked that morning were thrown out, but vehemently denied that it was in any way connected to any animosity toward the Prime Minister.
From the Times of Israel:
The matzah baked by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Kfar Chabad on Tuesday was tossed in the trash after his visit. The reason given was strict adherence to Jewish law, but reports in the Israeli media could not help but connect the incident to the ongoing crisis between the prime minister and the ultra-Orthodox community over the recently passed universal conscription law.
The gulf between Netanyahu and the Haredi community began in ernest with the prime minister’s exclusion of the ultra-Orthodox parties — his “natural partners” — from the governing coalition early last year. Netanyahu has since been referred to as “the big traitor” and “Haredi hunter” within the community, according to the Walla News website.
So when the prime minister’s matzot were thrown out in Kfar Chabad, after he had taken the time to pour water on the dough, flatten it, roll it, etc., it seemed natural to assume that it was some small retribution for Netanyahu’s policies.
The ultra-Orthodox journalist Ishai Cohen was quoted by Walla as saying that matzah is traditionally baked by pious Jews, and therefore it was proper to throw Netanyahu’s matzah to the trash. He described the prime minister’s visit as a publicity stunt. Other Haredi sources were largely in agreement.
A spokesman for Chabad, however, took issue with the way the events were presented in the Haredi media, saying that the reason for throwing out the matzah had nothing to do with Netanyahu.
“At a matzah bakery, there are always matzot that get eliminated for having laid on the table too long, or for other halakhic reasons,” said Menachem Brod.
“During Netanyahu’s visit, some of the workers left the task of rolling the matzah and gathered around the prime minister. The overseer subsequently ordered those matzah that had been left out to be invalidated. There was no connection to the matzot touched by the prime minister, and any attempt to tie the two things together is an ugly attempt to fan the flames of hatred and division, and Chabad rejects it in disgust,” he added.
“Every year, for decades, I have been getting shmurah matzahs from Chabad,” Netanyahu said on Tuesday. “But this is the first time that I actually got to make it myself.”
According to Chabad.org, the Kfar Chabad matzah bakery produces many tons of hand-crafted round shmurah matzahs for communities all over the world.
Menachem
That article has since been updated:
http://www.jta.org/2014/04/03/news-opinion/the-telegraph/bibis-matzah-trashed
Really?
“…some of the workers left the task of rolling the matzah and gathered around the prime minister.”
So, is this Disneyland or a matzah bakery? If the mashgiach has no control over the workers, how can the kashrus be trusted in general?
Milhouse
It’s not a prison. If the workers leave their posts to gawk at the visitor and try to get in the photos, what can the mashgiach do? Fire them?! He’s not the boss. And do you want the boss to fire them for such a trivial offense?! Would you expect to be fired for such a thing? How would you feel? All the mashgiach can do is passel the matzos made during those minutes when the workers were distracted.
As for Netanyahu’s yiras shomayim, it’s probably no worse than that of some of the workers.
nu
I guess you never worked at a real matzo bakery. I used to work at a bakery in Mea Shearim as a bochur during bein hazmonim. Its not a big deal if someone leaves the post, so long as you throw out those matzos. After every run they clean the tables and equipment, and the oven is so hot its a non-issue.
just him
#2 get a life !
to 2
they threw out the matzos that were left out too long- isnt this showing you that there is a mashgiach watching??. netanyahu made a visit which obviously created a scene that the mashgiach had no control over…
Fuel for the fire?
Do they use wood or coal for the KC matzo bakery? And if they use wood, where do they get it?
declasse' intelectual
Of all the things to worry about this forthcoming Pesach–to my fellow Jewish comrades grow up and get real
Discretion
Some things just don’t need to be published as no good will come of it!
no tact
They should not have thrown them out, so silly. Not good pr. They should have put them in a box marked clearly joy kosher lepesach. Even the kids at model matzah bakery take theirs home. Not good pr
CR
This is sounding very much like the episode of President Bush carrying the “plastic turkey” when paying a surprise visit to US troops in Iraq on Thanksgiving. All heat, no light.
Ezra
Well, except for the fact that it wasn’t a plastic turkey after all – not that that keeps folks like you from still insisting that it was so…
Milhouse
There was no plastic turkey. It’s a lie from beginning to end.
Kop Mentch
Better if it was plastic. A real turkey would need to be at a safe temperature for storage and consumption – which was not adhered to, placing many of our troops at dangerous risk of food poisoning.
Donald Yosef MArcus
Polictics Polictic’s always seem to get in the way !
I believe the throwing away of the matzo’s was clearly on it not adhereing to jewish law. I thought it was a great symbol to have the Prime Minister to try & usher in Passover with a hands on feeling & hopefully he will get the true message of eliminating the Chumatz of one’s self to make way for the matzah or deflated eggo to come out !
Donald Yosef MArcus
No Good Deed goes unpunished ! I am sure that 95 % of any matzah baked buy someone else who has no experience in doing it would of ended up in the same place ! This is not kaballah, stop looking into a situation so deeply that you get a different meaning out of the situation ! You should look at the positive side. Someone should of asked if he burned his chamatz first before making the matzah LOL !
kfar chabad matzos
so there goes kfar chabad matzos down the drain $1.00 a pound at all stores eat it after pesach