Kashrus Kurrents, Winter 2021<\/p>\n\n\n
If you ask any out-of-town kiruv professional involved in outreach, \u201cWhat are the two most important community \u2018must-haves\u2019 needed to attract baalei teshuvah<\/em> or create growth in a particular Jewish community?\u201d, nine times out of ten the answer you will get is 1) an eruv and 2) a kosher pizza shop! I can bear witness to this fact. At the beginning of my tenure as executive director of the Vaad Hoer of St. Louis 35 years ago, I sent out a questionnaire to the frum kehilos<\/em> and the community at large asking what they think would enhance the St. Louis frum community. Believe it or not, the overwhelming response was a kosher pizza shop. Soon thereafter, a kosher pizza shop opened. Subsequently, two community eruvim were also built.<\/p>\n Similarly, over 40 years ago in my shul in Birmingham, Alabama, where the community was too small to support either a kosher pizza shop or an eruv, one of the congregants who happened to be a professional pizza chef made kosher pizzas for the shul every month.<\/p>\n When did pizza become so popular? Speculation has it that pizza, a popularly known flatbread topped with cheese and vegetables, dates back to ancient times. According to some Hebrew historians, the word \u2018pizza\u2019 is derived from a kosher cookie called \u2018pizzarelle\u2019, which was eaten by Roman yidden after coming home from shul. This etymology is one amongst many, but probably the most intriguing.<\/p>\n Contemporary historians attribute the modern-day pizza to the Italian pizza maker, Raffaele Esposito, who created the pizza in honor of Queen Margherita of Savoy, Italy in 1889. His creation was called \u2018Pizza Margherita\u2019. In the early 1900s, the first pizza shop was opened in New York City by Gennaro Lombardi. At that point, pizza was exclusively viewed as an ethnic dish and did not cross over to the U.S. at large until after World War II, when servicemen returned from Europe and pizza shops began to proliferate. Of course, with the commercialization of pizza it did not take long for kosher pizzerias to make their appearance in Jewish communities throughout the New York area.<\/p>\n The kashrus of pizza ingredients is relatively simple: Flour, water and yeast for the dough and kosher tomato sauce, kosher cheese, herbs\/spices and vegetables (no pepperoni) for the toppings. What was not so simple was determining what bracha<\/em> to make over pizza. Pizza dough is a bread dough and the bracha<\/em> made would be Hamotzi;<\/em> however, the pizza\u2019s other components could transform it to a completely different bracha.<\/em> Pizza falls into a unique category of bread-like products known as Pas haba\u2019a b\u2019kisnin<\/em>. Pas Haba\u2019a B\u2019kisnin<\/em> literally means \u2018pocket bread\u2019. Horav Moshe Heinemann, shli\u201dta, gave us a novel explanation of the term \u2018b\u2019kisnin\u2019<\/em> as a bread product that you can put in your pocket. This should be taken figuratively, not literally. However, Rav Heinemann maintained that it was called pas haba\u2019a b\u2019kisnin<\/em> for its snack-like qualities. These products were not created for k\u2019viyas seuda<\/em>, breaking bread at a meal.<\/p>\n What defines pas haba\u2019a b\u2019kisnin<\/em>? Interestingly, halacha<\/em> provides four approaches to define pas haba\u2019a b\u2019kisnin<\/em>:<\/p>\n Halacha<\/em> concludes that all four opinions fulfill the criteria of pas haba\u2019a b\u2019kisnin<\/em>, and the bracha<\/em> recited would be Borei Minei Mezonos<\/em>.3<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n Nevertheless, as with every general principle there are exceptions; Pas haba\u2019a b\u2019kisnin<\/em>, is no different. There are two common scenarios when a \u201cMezonos\u201d<\/em> pas haba\u2019a b\u2019kisnin<\/em> product can be elevated to Hamotzi<\/em> status.<\/p>\n When one eats enough pas haba\u2019a b\u2019kisnin<\/em> for a full dinner meal, or if one eats pas haba\u2019a b\u2019kisnin<\/em> to augment other side dishes for a full meal, the bracha one makes on that pas haba\u2019a b\u2019kisnin<\/em> is Hamotzi.<\/em> Why? In these cases, when one eats the pas haba\u2019a b\u2019kisnin<\/em> as one would eat bread, the pas haba\u2019a b\u2019kisnin<\/em> has been elevated to bread-like status; hence, the bracha would be Hamotzi. In all instances of exclusive pas haba\u2019a b\u2019kisnin<\/em>, the amount that an average person consumes for a dinner meal determines how much pas haba\u2019a b\u2019kisnin<\/em> constitutes a full meal.4<\/sup><\/a> When the pas haba\u2019a b\u2019kisnin<\/em> augments the meal, such as cake or a pas haba\u2019a b\u2019kisnin<\/em> roll with an airline meal, even if the pas haba\u2019a b\u2019kisnin<\/em> roll or cake tastes like cake, once one eats this cake or roll with a meal it fulfills a bread-like criteria and one would have to wash and recite Hamotzi<\/em> on the cake or Mezonos<\/em> roll.<\/p>\n When Kashrus Kurrents took a pizza poll of current pizza consumption, the results revealed that the average person eats one slice of an 18\u201d pizza (alone, without any sides) as a snack, three slices of an 18\u201d pizza (alone, without any sides) as a meal. Two slices of an 18\u201d pizza (alone, without any sides) was questionable. Most pizza shops agreed that the average consumer orders two slices of thin or thick crust pizza with a side dish for dinner. Similarly, one slice of square dish Sicilian pizza eaten alone as a meal is questionable. In order to avoid a sofek,<\/em> doubt, on what is the correct bracha,<\/em> two slices of 18\u201d pizza or one slice of Sicilian pizza should not be ordered alone, but rather with side dishes, be it thin or thick crust pizza and the bracha<\/em> would be Hamotzi.<\/em><\/p>\nThe History of Pizza<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Determining the Criteria<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Putting the Consumer Into the Picture<\/strong><\/h3>\n
When One is Kovea Seuda<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n
Current Pizza Consumption Habits<\/strong><\/h3>\n