Question:
If someone (for example and elderly person) has difficulty eating matzah may they crush it up and mix it together with apple sauce?
Answer:
Matzah may not be mixed up with any other food (for the first kezayis of matzah on the Seder night).
If it is hard to eat the matzah as it is, it can be crushed and mixed with a little water. One should be careful that the water will not “whiten” due to the matzah, and only that the matzah will become moist.
Where this is not possible, one should use the soft “teimani” matzos.
Where there is no other option, the matzah can be soaked in wine.
Sources:
See Shulchan Aruch 461:4, and commentaries, where we find that it is only permitted to soak the matzah in water, for this does not annul the taste of the matzah, and some permit soaking in cold wine. See Mishnah Berurah (18) who writes that somebody old and frail can soak in liquids, but it is not permitted to eat with fruit sauce, for this will cause the taste of the matzah to be annulled, and the mitzvah will not be fulfilled.
In addition, it is possible that a kezayis won’t be eaten within the required time (when eaten with sauce).
Best wishes.
