It’s possible that Shatzer Matzohs, a matzah bakery with a long history and a devoted clientele, won’t be making unleavened bread for Passover this year.
On Shatzer’s phone line, a woman who described herself as the owner but would not offer her name stated, “At this time, we’re not baking.”
Although the shutdown is “temporary,” the owner told the New York Jewish Week that she is unsure of what the future would bring. In a following call, a different individual at the Shatzer phone number claimed that the plant might reopen before Passover but has not yet begun baking, as it would have at this time in prior years.
The brand is made in a factory in the Kensington district of Brooklyn, and Rabbi David Bashevkin, a writer and the director of education for the Orthodox youth organization NCSY, referred to it as “the matzah of my childhood.”
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According to Bashevkin, who spoke to the New York Jewish Week, “it had a reputation as the best matzah bakery in the tri-state area, which by definition means it’s the best matzah in the world.”
The owner did not discuss the factory’s closure and the company’s history. According to American Jewish historian Zev Eleff, who spoke to the New York Jewish Week, he could locate corporate adverts in Yiddish newspapers from the 1960s.
P.Y. An advertisement for Shatzer Matzah was also cited by Mund, a novice Jewish genealogist, in a 1949 Yiddish newspaper.
Additionally, the facility started to allow group tours in more recent years. Employees were heard saying “l’shem matzas mitzvah,” which is loosely translated as “for matzah eaten as a mitzvah,” during the baking process, according to a description and video footage of the visits.
Shatzer Matzos makes round “shmura” matzah, a handcrafted variation of the traditional Passover food whose manufacture is closely monitored from when the wheat is harvested.
Bashevkin declared, “To hear that we won’t have Shatzer Matzoh this year is a heartbreaking loss. “We ate their matzah all year long in my household. Shatzer Matzoh boxes from the previous year are still with my father.
Riki Landa posted the company’s closure this year on the “Great Kosher Restaurants Foodies Facebook group,” adding that the news was “very sad.”
According to Rabbi Josh Yuter on Twitter, “I don’t think many will understand that for many years, Shatzer was the handcrafted shmura shop.”
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