A Short Tribute

Just before Passover a person came to me with a bag of flour from which matzah had been baked and in which a bit of dough was subsequently found stuck inside the bag. He went to the halakhic instructor here in the city of Haifa, may it be built and established, Rabbi Atai, blessed be he and his name, from the Ashkenazi community, who sent him to me to instruct him on whether it is to be permitted or proscribed for use. I noted that the sticky spot was very small, so that even if it had fallen in in its entirety, the entire amount justified ignoring it. One might have felt a doubt in allowing it, for one must be attentive to the words of those who would proscribe it, even if there are some who might claim that there is no trace of its taste. But my heart would not permit me to proscribe it, for this was a poverty-stricken person, who had no means to purchase more, and would be excluded from the festival's celebration. I therefore thought I might find a way to allow it.