Normal Consumption
‘Leave Aside Babylonian Kutach’
(Nazir 36b)
The Sages (Pesachim 43b) assert that there is no liability for karet or lashes for eating kutach habavli (a sour milk dip containing bread crumbs) on Passover. The Gemara (Nazir 36b) explains that one who uses kutach as a dip normally does not consume a kezayis (a quantity the size of an olive) of breadcrumbs within the required time it takes to eat a peras (equivalent to the volume of three or four eggs). Therefore, even if one consumes more than a kezayis of bread crumbs throughout the meal, the crumbs do not combine to form the required minimum shiur of a kezayis, since they were consumed over a period of time.
Beracha Acharona
The concept of the total quantity of food eaten within the time it takes to eat a peras is also relevant for the laws regarding the requirement of a beracha acharona (the blessing recited after eating). One is not obligated (or even permitted) to recite a beracha acharona after eating or drinking less than the critical shiur (i.e., a kezayis of food or a revi’is of a beverage) within the time it takes to eat a peras, unless one eats the food at a very slow pace. [Note: Some (see Rambam, Hilchos Ma’achalos Assuros 14:9) maintain that the time span allotted for drinking is the time it takes to drink a revi’is, which is a lot less than the time allotted for food.]
A Measure That Varies
Knesseth HaGedola (cited by Ba’er Heitev, O.C. 204:s.k.12) asserts that the time it takes to eat a peras varies according to the food (or beverage) consumed. He rules that since it is common to sip hot coffee or tea at a slow pace, one should recite a beracha acharona after drinking coffee or tea even if one did not drink the minimum shiur within the span it takes to eat a peras (and certainly not within the smaller span of time it takes to drink a revi’is).
Minchas Chinuch (Mitzvah 313:5) rules in accordance with Knesseth HaGedola, explaining that the time it takes to eat a peras does not depend on how long it takes to eat a peras (lit. a half-loaf, which is the volume of three or four eggs) of bread but rather on how much time it takes to consume a three-egg volume of whatever food one is eating. If one eats a kezayis of meat, then it is essential that he eat the kezayis within the time it takes to eat a peras of meat. If one drinks coffee, then his obligation to recite a beracha acharona depends on whether he drank the crucial amount within the time it takes to drink a peras of coffee – and so on.
A Measure That Is Constant
Kappos Temarim (cited by Tosefos Yom HaKippurim to Yoma 80b) disputes the ruling of Knesseth HaGedola and Minchas Chinuch, and adduces proof from our Gemara that the minimal time span is constant. He argues that if the critical time in which it takes to eat a peras expands for foods that are commonly eaten at a slow pace, one who eats kutach on Passover should be subject to lashes even if it takes him longer than that to finish eating a kezayis of crumbs: after all, he consumed the kezayis of kutach in the normal manner of eating kutach.
Minchas Chinuch explains that even though the individual may have consumed the kutach at a normal pace, our focus is not on the kutach but on the bread crumbs, and on how long it takes to eat a peras of bread. The fact that the bread crumbs were mixed into the kutach does not alter the normal time it takes to eat a peras – namely, the time that is usually allotted for the consumption of a kezayis of bread.
