Tzara'at צָרָ֑עַת is Not Leprosy!

Tzara'at צָרָ֑עַת is not leprosy!

I'm glad that the Chabad Tanach editors just transliterate the word Tzara'at צָרָ֑עַת rather than misleading people into thinking that it's a medical condition.

Tzara'at צָרָ֑עַת doesn't exist today. For those who like to equate it with all sorts of skin diseases and conditions, sorry but you're totally wrong.

Chazal, our sages tell us that "Gd first creates the cure then the disease." The cure and diagnosis of Tzara'at צָרָ֑עַת was by the Kohen, Priest from the Beit Hamikdash, Holy Temple. Once they Priests no longer functioned in such a way, then there was nobody to even diagnose Tzara'at צָרָ֑עַת. So without a diagnosis/cure, the condition could no longer exist.

Yes, it's that simple.

I believe that the early christian theologians and Bible translators found it necessary to give the condition a medical name. Since they did this after Tzara'at צָרָ֑עַת no longer existed they had to make it look like it was something current. Also, theologically they had absolutely now way of relating to Tzara'at צָרָ֑עַת.

Maybe when we have the Third Temple, Tzara'at צָרָ֑עַת will return.

"Speedily in Our Days..." Tisha B'Av 5779, 2019

This year, this Tisha b'Av, the time we're supposed to be mourning the destruction of our Holy Temples, I find myself mourning the fact that the vast majority of the Jewish People have no plan to build the Third Holy Temple. 

As I read the words of Eicha, I began to feel that we're too accepting of our "victimhood," rather than pushing forward and living as Gd wants. Much of this feeling is the influence of the lectures I heard the other day in Michlelet Herzog (College) Tanach/Bible Program.

Only seventy 70 years passed between the destruction of the First Temple and the construction of the Second Temple. Now over two thousand years have passed since the Second one was destroyed, and  we still don't have a Holy Temple. More than seventy 70 years ago the State of Israel was established and more than fifty years since the IDF Israel Defense Forces liberated the Temple Mount in the stupendously miraculous 1967 Six Days War.

Just a few hours ago, on Shabbat we read the Torah, Dvarim:

Dvarim I

רְ֠אֵה נָתַ֨ן יְ-ה אֱלֹ-יךָ לְפָנֶ֖יךָ אֶת־הָאָ֑רֶץ עֲלֵ֣ה רֵ֗שׁ כַּאֲשֶׁר֩ דִּבֶּ֨ר יְ-ה אֱלֹהֵ֤י אֲבֹתֶ֙יךָ֙ לָ֔ךְ אַל־תִּירָ֖א וְאַל־תֵּחָֽת׃

21- See, the LORD your God has placed the land at your disposal. Go up, take possession, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you. Fear not and be not dismayed.”

Nu? It's clear to me. We're supposed to be sovereign and build for the Jewish People in all of the Land of Israel, including the Holy Temple, the Beit Hamikdash on Har Habayit, the Temple Mount.

• Gd gave us this Land for a reason.
• Gd gave us the victories in 1948, 1967, 1973 and more for us to build a country for Jews.

We must not be afraid of foreign powers. They have no power over us. We the Jewish People are Gd's People.

May we accept Gd's gifts and use them properly

במהרה בימינו

Bimhaira yameinu

Speedily in Our Days

Summer Bible/Tanach 5779 at Herzog College

Yesterday I spent the day immersed in Bible, Tanach at Michlelet Herzog, Herzog College in Alon Shvut. They offer a weeklong "festival" of study and touring. It's not cheap, but it's worth it for me. My summer vacation treats are membership in our local pool and spending one day at Herzog. I prefer that to a hotel or other "vacation."

This year enough* people signed up for the Shomron-Binyamin bus, which made traveling very easy.
I signed up for lectures according to the lecturers. Three are favorites from Matan, Dr. Yael Ziegler, Yael Leibowitz and Atara Snowbell, who no longer teaches there. They are my all time favorites, and if you ever have the opportunity to hear them, take advantage.

Herzog College Yemei Iyun, Bible Study Days offer classes and tours in Hebrew, English and French.

The organization, as usual, was excellent. This time my classes were only in two locations, two lectures, lunch and then the following three in a large "tent." Besides the bus, I signed up for lunch, which was also excellent. There was fish, plus a vegetarian alternative, lots of vegetables, salad, fruit and bread for those who wanted. There were hot/cold drinks in various locations, plus fruit, cookies and pastry throughout the day.

I must admit that the various lectures are all mixed up in my head. They covered similar overlapping topics and even quoted some of the same Bible verses.

To very superficially summarize, the lectures were about the era between the two Holy Temples, Ezra, Nechemia and Jeremiah.

Each of the five lecturers/speakers have different styles, and I really enjoyed the fact that they went over similar subject matter in their individual ways. The era is so similar to today:

• aliyah
• intermarriage
• assimilation
• "Who's a Jew?"
• To build or not to build a new Holy Temple?
• True or False Prophets? Who's really speaking in the name of Gd?

An added bonus was seeing lots of friends, many I've known since I was a teen. I also got to meet people I've been in touch with via facebook and other social media.

The growing popularity of the Tanach, Bible is further proof that we're preparing ourselves for the Third Temple and the Moshiach. They are connected, and I believe that we have to change, be ready, prepare ourselves and the world. It's not the job for the Moshiach to change us.  Gd willing we will work harder to make ourselves better, do Teshuva, repent and utilize the gifts Gd has been giving us, like the Land of Israel.

במהרה בימינו

bimhaira biyameinu

speedily in our days...

*last year it was cancelled for the day I needed due to insufficient registration

The Mishkan and Post-Temple Judaism

Yesterday in Matan during the lecture by Yael Leibowitz, in which she described what we'll be learning this year, she mentioned that after the destruction of the Holy Temples, Chazal, our sages had the task of defining a Judaism which could survive in Exile and without a Temple. It had to be "portable."

After close to forty years living in Shiloh, it's no surprise where my mind went. I saw a chiastic structure framing the period between Joshua's leading the Jewish People into the Land of Israel and the Destruction of the Second Holy Temple which preceded the long two thousand 2,000 year Exile into the Diaspora.

Model of Inner Tabernacle, Ancient Shiloh Hakeduma, Tel Shiloh

Main Synagogue in Shiloh, designed after the Biblical Tabernacle

The bridge was the Mishkan, Tabernacle, especially when it rested, stood temporarily in Shiloh for close to four hundred years. Prayer, more specifically communal, consisted of sacrifices and took place in and around the Mishkan. The Mishkan was first constructed according to detailed plans communicated by Gd right after the exodus from Egypt.

The Mishkan was made to be portable, and during the forty years the Jewish People were "in transit" between Egypt and the Holy Land, it could be moved. In the Holy Land, it then "rested" in Shiloh. Besides the stone foundation, it was still constructed of wood, fabric and animal skins. That's why it is so difficult to ascertain exactly where it stood in Shiloh. No stone walls remain, no matter how far deeply the archaeologists dig.

When we were a united tribal nation, the Tabernacle was enough to keep us together, build shared experiences, but with time the Jewish People needed more.

In the Holy Land, first the Mishkan was the center for religious pilgrimages. Later, during the Davidic Dynasty, it was replaced by the Beit Hamikdash, Holy Temple in Jerusalem. And then, after the destruction of the Second Temple and the dispersion of the Jewish People, a new version of Judaism had to be developed. No longer did Gd send specific instructions. It was in the hands of knowledgeable people, the Sanhedrin.

The Sanhedrin developed/decided on a Judaism that has kept us a People for two thousand years. And now, thank Gd, we have returned to our Land. As Jews return from all corners of the world, it's time to erase our differences and build the Third Holy Temple in Jerusalem, Gd willing, speedily in our days...

Planning The Third Temple

Tonight, as a Succot celebration here in Shiloh, I heard a talk about the Third Temple.

It took place in a neighbor's large succah.

Considering that even today, after seventy 70 years of the State of Israel, which bli eyin haraa, seems stronger and more stable and successful than ever, many Jews still have trouble accepting this reality, talk of the measurements of the Third Temple may seem a bit "premature." But as I listened I thought of how just barely a hundred and fifty years ago, the vast majority of Jews couldn't fathom the idea that there would be a Jewish State. They thought that Theodor Herzl and other early Zionists were totally daft.

I kept thinking of this famous quotation from Theodor Herzl as I listened to a very detailed explanation of dimensions of the yet unbuilt Holy Temple. Gd willing we won't need to wait much longer to liberate the Temple Mount and build the Third Temple.

If you will it, it is no dream
Theodor Herzl

Herzl

Chag Succot Sameach

ושמחת בחגך

Taste of Moshiach, Eating on 9th of Av

Tisha b'Av, the 9th day of the Jewish Month of Av is commemorated as the saddest and longest day of the year. It's one of the two 25 hour fasts, along with Yom Kippur. But unlike Yom Kippur it's a day of mourning, and the mourning customs continue until the following afternoon. Even the meal that breaks the fast has to be restricted to non-festive foods.

Unlike Yom Kippur, Tisha b'Av will not be a fast day forever. When the Moshiach rules and our Holy Temple is rebuilt, the 9th of Av will become a festive holiday. We pray that will be soon. It's even customary that announcement for Tisha b'Av events to be preceded with "If the Moshiach hasn't yet come..."

The meals that "bookend" Yom Kippur are festive meals, traditionally a rich chicken soup followed by meat and festive dishes, but for 9th of Av it's the opposite. The traditional prefast meal before Tisha b'Av is that of a mourner. No meat or poultry and the "Dessert" is boiled eggs rolled in ash. But not this year!

This year we ate meat and poultry and drank wine on Tisha b'Av. Many Torah observant Jews even had festive meals before the fast began. That's because this year the actual 9th of Av was on Shabbat, and we don't mourn on Shabbat. It's forbidden. The only special pre-Tisha b'Av change to Shabbat was that we were required to finish eating our festive third Shabbat meal before the sun began to set.

Gd willing next year, 5779, there will be no Fast of Tisha b'Av, neither the 9th of Av nor the 10th. Those days will be joyous holidays, and the Holy Temple will be standing, and Jews won't be forced to undergo demeaning inspections to go up to the Temple Mount.

Gd willing Tisha b'Av next year, 5779, there will be festive Jewish Prayer in the Holy Temple on the Temple Mount!

My husband, Yisrael Medad, waiting to enter the Temple Mount today

Nothing's New, All in the Bible/Tanach

I didn't get much of a Jewish education growing up. My parents weren't religious, so besides occasionally remembering to light the Chanukah Menorah and having the traditional, though shortened Passover Seder and a rare Friday night when my mother lit Shabbat candles, we did know we were Jewish...

We were always shul (synagogue) members. When we lived in Bayside, NY, we were founding members of the Conservative Oakland Jewish Center, which has since closed for business. Then when we moved to Great Neck, NY, we joined the Orthodox Great Neck Synagogue, though the choice of Orthodox wasn't for theological reasons. Even though I'm a graduate of the OJC Hebrew School, I didn't learn much, certainly not much  Bible/Tanach. And then later as an active member of NCSY I learned living Judaism, not Bible/Tanach.

All the Bible/Tanach I know has been learned as an adult, and not when I was younger. Sometimes when I'm in a class, whether with hundreds of others in Matan, or the small senior citizens class in Ofra, I see so many parallels and similarities between what happened to the Jewish People thousands of years ago and today. It's really mind-boggling to think about it.

As in Kohelet, Ecclesiastes, written by King Solomon, it has all happened before. Human nature, our intelligence and foibles haven't changed at all. In recent years I've been studying Ezra-Nehemiah, the time between the First and Second Temples, when the Jewish People returned in part from exile. The controversies, debates and problems of that time were so similar to today's among the Jewish People. That includes the controversy over "Who's a Jew?"

I have no doubt that we are in an era of Biblical significance, and Gd willing we will do what must be done to truly bring the Moshiach. We need leadership to fully build and develop the Jewish State of Israel. Build for Jews and BUILD THE HOLY TEMPLE!

Arab Terrorism versus "Two State Solution"

There can never be a "Two State Solution" here in the Middle East, unless you're in favor of Hitler's "Final Solution." It's that simple. Both "solutions" are deadly for Jews.

Yes, it's that simple.

We Jews and the State of Israel do not have "peace partners." The aim of the Arabs and their enablers is the destruction of the State of Israel, Gd forbid, and the death of us, too.

Our cemeteries are full of innocent Jewish victims murdered by local Arabs. And our history is full of invaders and attempts at our annihilation and holocausts.

Deja vu, been there, done that. We've cried for our victims of terrorism and fought for our independence over and over. Each generation has its enemies. The Jewish People are a small people, but we've outlasted them all. And today's enemies will join all of those others in history books.

We will overcome in ways that no other people have survived, Gd willing. 

Gd willing we will soon have brave visionary leaders and we'll build our Holy Temple on the The Temple Mount, Har Habayit. Like when Nachshon stepped into the water causing it to part so the Jewish People could safely escape slavery to Pharaoh in Egypt, once we begin to build the Third Temple, it will miraculously be completed by Gd.

May it be speedily in our days, bimhaira biyameinu... Gd willing...

Chanukah Lights of Jewish Return

The main mitzvah, Commandment, of the Chanukah Holiday is Pisum haNess, Publicizing the Miracle. That is why we are commanded to place our lit chanukiyot, Chanukah Menorot in a place where people can easily see them.

That's why you'll see lit chanukiyot outside of people's homes or in their windows facing the street. And the oil, or candles, are supposed to stay lit for as long as possible, the longer the better. There is nothing discreet about Chanukah.

Chankukah is the only Jewish Holiday which isn't clearly mentioned in the Bible. Chazal, our scholars show where it's alluded to, but the story itself took place after all of the other ones, including the Purim story. Esther and Mordechai lived in the time between the First and Second Temples, while Chanukah is about the Second Temple centuries later.

There is not yet a Third Temple, though we Jewish People have begun returning to the Holy Land. And although the Chaunkah story of the Maccabees' victory over the Greeks leaves us with a very optimistic impression, their dynasty was very short-lived. And afterwards we suffered an exile of two thousand years.

Today's prominence of Jews and Israelis, especially those who aren't ashamed to publicly follow Jewish Law, whether it's in dress, insisting on Kosher food or refusing tor work on the Jewish Sabbath and Holy Days, is a very enlightening and "24/7" observance of Pisum haNess, Publicizing the Miracle. I also see the lights of Jewish communities all over the Land of Israel as Pisum haNess, Publicizing the Miracle.

As the sun goes down and the sky gets dark, lights of our return to the Holy Land burn brightly for all to see.

Shvut Rachel, east of Shiloh

May we soon, speedily in our days build the Third Temple which will bring the Moshiach and Redemption, Gd willing.

No Peace Possible Without Third Temple in Jerusalem

Here we are midway through the eight 8 day Jewish Holiday of Chanukah. Last night we lit the 3rd candle, and tonight before Shabbat we light the fourth.

Jerusalem is the very heart of the Jewish Nation, People, Religion and Land, and this has been for thousands of years. And to repeat something very crucial, the Jewish religion, People, Nation etcetera have existed thousands of years before the advent/invention of Christianity, Islam, the USA and the United Nations.

We celebrate Chanukah because it commemorates the Jewish victory over the Ancients Greeks, who no longer exist. They tried to exterminate, defeat us, and they failed. What appeared to be mighty was actually weak. This template has repeated many times in Jewish History.

When the "experts" think we're down, we rise again. Here we are in the Modern State of Israel defying the Arab armies and their many supporters. Two thousand years of exile, and we are stronger than ever, bli eyin haraa.

It really doesn't matter what the world thinks of the Jewish and Israeli rights to Jerusalem. The last and possibly only time Jewish sovereignty in Jerusalem was after King Solomon built the very first Holy Temple. And maybe only when we build the Third Temple will we again get the acceptance that will bring the Moshiach. That's how it seems to me. We shouldn't fear. It's time for a Nachshon, the brave fleeing Jewish slave, who stepped into the water and caused Gd to make a dry passageway to facilitate the Exodus from Egypt.

Gd willing, speedily in our days....

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Urim Sameach

9th of Av Warning

I just posted a very positive optimistic blog post about the 9th of Av on A Jewish Grandmother,  Only in Israel, 9th of Av. It's on a day like today, when I have two very contradictory messages to post that I'm very happy to have a number of blogs.

The three week period of mourning leading to the 9th of Av and the fasting we do on that day are to remind us that our Land was invaded and Holy Temples destroyed.

Here we are over two thousand years later, and thank the Good Lord we are in a Jewish State. OK, true we do have enemies who unabashedly proclaim their plans to destroy us. As the world stands silently by, rather déjà vu, we have managed to miraculously defeat them time again.

There are even Jews who consider the status quo to be sufficiently good to mandate the cancellation of the fasting and mourning. I would certainly not go that far. I think that observing the fasting and mourning from the 17th of Tammuz to the 9-10th of Av as a still very necessary warning.

The commemoration of the tragedies to to make us remember, a reminder that even a Holy Temple built of heavy stone as grand as the one Herod built can be destroyed. Just read the Torah portion and Haftara our sages chose for the 9th of Av:

Complete Tisha B'Av Service, ArtScroll 

Dvarim 4:25When you beget children and children's children, and you will be long established in the land, and you become corrupt and make a graven image, the likeness of anything, and do evil in the eyes of the Lord your God, to provoke Him to anger,		דברים ד, כהכִּי תוֹלִיד בָּנִים וּבְנֵי בָנִים וְנוֹשַׁנְתֶּם בָּאָרֶץ וְהִשְׁחַתֶּם וַעֲשִׂיתֶם פֶּסֶל תְּמוּנַת כֹּל וַעֲשִׂיתֶם הָרַע בְּעֵינֵי יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לְהַכְעִיסוֹ:
26I call as witness against you this very day the heaven and the earth, that you will speedily and utterly perish from the land to which you cross the Jordan, to possess; you will not prolong your days upon it, but will be utterly destroyed.		כוהַעִידֹתִי בָכֶם הַיּוֹם אֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֶת הָאָרֶץ כִּי אָבֹד תֹּאבֵדוּן מַהֵר מֵעַל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם עֹבְרִים אֶת הַיַּרְדֵּן שָׁמָּה לְרִשְׁתָּהּ לֹא תַאֲרִיכֻן יָמִים עָלֶיהָ כִּי הִשָּׁמֵד תִּשָּׁמֵדוּן:
27And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will remain few in number among the nations to where the Lord will lead you.		כזוְהֵפִיץ יְהֹוָה אֶתְכֶם בָּעַמִּים וְנִשְׁאַרְתֶּם מְתֵי מִסְפָּר בַּגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר יְנַהֵג יְהֹוָה אֶתְכֶם שָׁמָּה:

Complete Tisha B'Av Service, ArtScroll 

I think that the true, the real lesson of the 9th of Av is only effective if we take it as a warning. We shouldn't think that because we have a Jewish State today, which is one of the most successful countries in the world, that we will all live happily ever after. Life isn't that simple.

Our Kingdom was invaded, the Temples destroyed and we were exiled twice before.

The State of Israel is a good start, but we are still far from Redemption, far from the Messianic Era. We, the Jewish People, still suffer terrible internal strife. Although there are good Jews preparing for Kohen, Priestly, Worship at the Holy Temple, we have not yet begun building the Third Temple. We do have prayers in the Hebron Cave of the Patriarchs, but there is not yet Jewish Prayer on the Temple Mount.

The State of Israel still refuses to be sovereign on not only the Temple Mount but the entire Land of Israel.

We have such a long way to go unfortunately. I do see progress. There was a time, not all that long ago, when you couldn't even hear anyone mentioning the subjects. But still we must hurry before Gd loses patience with us and decides that we are to be exiled yet again.

Next year, Gd willing, may there be feasts, not fasts on the 9th of Av. Gd willing with full Jewish Sovereignty the Third Temple will appear as the building commences, like the Red Sea parted when Nachshon stepped in.

It's up to us!

A Guide to The Kotel and Temple Mount

A Guide to The Kotel and Temple Mount is cross-posted on Israel Blogger.

Bibi's latest, of a very long, long list, capitulation to dangerous and ridiculous Leftist pro-Arab terrorist demands was the removal of the recently set up metal detectors to the Temple Mount for Arabs. As Paula Stern aka A Soldier's Mother has complained on facebook, not only do Jews, Christians and whatevers have to undergo demeaning "inspections" to get to the Temple Mount, where we're forbidden prayers, but just to go to the Kotel we go through metal detectors and our possessions are xrayed.

For those unfamiliar with the Old City of Jerusalem, the Kotel and Temple Mount, I'll explain a bit of the "geography." The Temple Mount is in the old walled City of Jerusalem. It's an "outer section." The "outer wall" of the Temple Mount is a section of the Old City Walls. The Kotel is a "support wall" of the Temple Mount, not the ancient Jewish Holy Temple, and an inner wall in the Old City. If you look at pre-1967 Six Days War photos you won't see anything like today's large impressive plaza. It was more like a narrow street where Jews gathered to pray by that wall.

In recent decades, since the 1967 war, not only has the State of Israel removed buildings to allow for massive Jewish Prayer at the Kotel, but it installed security inspection machinery at all entrances to the plaza. Everyone goes through a personal metal detector and puts his/her bags through a special x-ray conveyor belt. That is just to get to the Kotel.

Now, if you want to ascend the Temple Mount, you go through an additional, much more extensive security inspection. Your bags will be opened, checked and frequently held by the special security staff. Tourists, Jews, Christians and anyone else who doesn't seem to be an Arab Muslim can only enter through that gate.

Muslim Arabs have other entrances to the Temple Mount which aren't from the Kotel area. That means that not only aren't they inspected before entering the Temple Mount, but they haven't gone passed through the metal detectors at the entrances to the Kotel.

Simple Arithmetic:

1 + 1 = 2 versus 0

Yes, the Arabs can bring anything they want up to the Temple Mount, whether something as safe or innocuous as food or prayer books, but also guns, knives and explosives. The Israeli soldiers/police stationed at the Arab entrances have nothing to do other than being "window dressing" to make it look like there's some security. Their only real job is to keep the non-Muslims from entering.

Back to Rules for Non-Muslims:

Non-Muslims may be able to bring food, though saying a prayer/blessing before eating may get you carted out. Prayers are forbidden, so we aren't allowed to have any prayer books with us on the Temple Mount. And of course, anything considered to be a weapon is forbidden. Remember that the bags are inspected besides personal metal detectors, rather reminiscent of airport security.

Here's another very big difference between Muslims and non-Muslims on the Temple Mount.  While Muslims can wander freely, all others are herded into groups which are supervised by "guides." These "guides" not only restrict where a visitor can go, but they constantly watch to prevent anyone from praying. Yes, I kid you not. For some totally fokokt reason, the Israeli Government has long agreed to the Wakf demand that there only be Islamic prayer on the Holiest Site for Jews.

None of this makes sense. Does it?

Why don't we have minimal Civil Rights or Religious Rights in the Holiest of Places?

It's now less than a week until the 9th of Av when for millennia the Jewish People have mourned the loss and destruction of our Holy Temples. The time has come to stop mourning and start building the Third Holy Temple. Stage one is to be fully sovereign in The Land of Israel, the City of Jerusalem and on the Temple Mount!

Passover: Choose Your Battles, and Kitniyot isn't Mine

I enjoy my usual coffee, made in a Passover percolator, served in a Passover mug on my specially covered counter.

For those not living a Torah Jewish aka Orthodox life, there are innumerable issues that make no sense at all. And even for those who do, once you compare the different customs, especially concerning Passover foods -permitted and forbidden- confusion reigns supreme.

Until about a century or so ago, there wasn't all that much "mixing" between the Jewish communities aka eidot, so for example, the most Torah observant and knowledgeable Sephardic Jews of Tunisia and Morocco had no idea that their traditional Passover foods couldn't be eaten by an Ashkenazi Jew in Russia or Germany. And the Ashkeniz Jew would find it incredible that his Sephardic brethren had never eaten or even heard of Gefilte Fish or kneidlach.

But today, whether in Brooklyn, London or Jerusalem you will find many families of mixed Jewish ethnic backgrounds struggling at times to create menus and traditions that halachically (according to Jewish Law) suit all members of the family around the Seder table. My family is one of them.

I'm always praising this mix and sincerely consider it a sign that the Moshiach and Redemption are close. The blurring of these diaspora identities certainly are required prerequisites for the true Jewish Messianic Time and the building of the Third Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

My husband and I are strictly Ashkenaz and don't eat kitniyot*, legumes, whether dried, fresh or just derivatives. We've survived so many Passover Holidays on this restricted "diet" that it seems silly/unnecessary to accept/adopt one of those well-publicized general rabbinic statements that the "kitniyot restrictions" are no longer valid.

In principle I do not follow in any way public rabbinic announcements by rabbis I don't know and didn't ask. Actually, I consider it highly problematic for rabbis to make "grand announcements" to the general public. When have had a question we ask our local rabbi who knows us, and we know him.

I must say that our Passover observance has changed in the last decade plus, especially since our daughter married a Jew whose family made aliyah from Tunisia. It started when they would come to us, and we'd allow them rice on our Passover table. My daughter would make it in our pots, because rice isn't chametz, and it's perfectly permitted for them. And in recent years they host the big family seder. They serve both kitniyot and non-kitniyot foods. Everyone eats what they consider permitted on Passover. And we enjoy being together which is most important.

There are so many families like ours, nowadays, that these old ethnic divisions/differences won't last much longer Gd willing. Let them die a natural death. Don't rush it, please. It's better all around for the unity of the Jewish People to go slowly, so a Passover menu will happily include Gefilte Fish and hummus eaten with shmura soft matzot. That will be the type of meal celebrating the Chanukat Habayit of the Third Temple, Gd willing.

*Here are a few sites which will explain what this means:

• All About Kitniyot
• Kitniyot: Not Quite Hametz
• Kitniyot