"W. Baker" > wrote in message
...
> Ellen K. > wrote:
>
> : "Janet Wilder" > wrote in message
> : ...
> : >>
> : >> I think I will be better off using the rye matzo, not least because
> now
> : >> if it works I will have a use for all the halves left over from the
> : >> Shabbos meals. (The psak I got was to eat the Ashkenazi version of a
> : >> kezayis, which is half a machine matzo, and consider the other food
> in
> : >> the meal to be aggregated with it to get up to the amount needed to
> be
> : >> able to wash with a brocho and bentsh afterwards. Sephardim and
> : >> Lubavitch hold a kezayis is a whole machine matzo.) Another reason is
> : >> that it doesn't set off further carb cravings.
> : >
> : > The word "Kezayis" means like an olive, so the piece should be the
> size of
> : > an olive. As far as I know, neither the Ashkenazim nor the Sephardim
> : > require one to eat anything that would be bad for their health. I
> think
> : > this is a shaila for a personal rabbi who understands your medical
> needs.
> : >
> : > Just my opinion.
> : >
> : > So paskins rav Janet :-)
>
> : Correct, it is not required to eat anything that would be injurious to
> one's
> : health.
>
> : I have been trying to find a way to still be able to wash for bread,
> with
> : the blessing, and say the full grace after meals, on the sabbath,
> without
> : losing control of my BG, because it just doesn't feel "shabbosdik" to me
> to
> : not do this. I don't care if I don't eat bread during the week.
>
> : The halacha is, to make the blessing on the bread and say the full grace
> : after meals, a kezayis of bread (based on the halachic definition of
> bread,
> : which is also different depending what custom one follows, but all have
> in
> : common that the dough must include one or more of wheat / rye / spelt /
> oats
> : / barley and be made with water) must be eaten. To additionally say the
> : blessing on washing the hands prior to blessing and eating the bread,
> two
> : kzeisim (= a beitzah) must be eaten.
>
> : Kezayis is not defined by what you or I might think based on the
> grammar.
> : Most Ashkenazi rabbis posken that a kezayis is the amount equal to the
> : volume of a fluid ounce. Most Sephardim, as well as Lubavitch, posken
> that
> : a kezayis is the weight of an ounce.
>
> : I did ask a shaila, and above I explained the answer I got, see the
> sentence
> : beginning with "The psak I got was". The answer was further explained
> as
> : being based on the Magen Avraham.
>
> My husband anand I used to split one challah roll, with me takign the
> smaller"half. I now throw out the larger half. I either make or buy
> whole wheat one.
>
> Wendy
>

Most commercial "challah rolls" I have seen here are a little over 2 oz, so
a half of one would give you a kezayis according to the Sephardim, and
almost certainly more than a kezayis according to the Ashkenazim. I found
an article where it explains how to calculate it according to the Ashkenazim
but haven't concentrated on it yet, I was using half a whole-wheat pita for
a few weeks, which was also one ounce. This week I used half a machine
matzo, which is only about half an ounce (and half the carbs). Which brings
us back to the starting point of this conversation, if eating a quarter of
one in the morning kills the DP, then I'm great because I'll have a use for
all the leftover half-matzos from the Shabbos meals.