Lots of Legitimate Kosher for Passover Customs/Psak/Laws Part 1

Note that I didn't use the word "choice" in my title here. As many people know, I'm in the midst of planning a new kitchen. We never made a change or even major repair in the kitchen we built as part of our house almost thirty-five years ago. We've changed the major appliances, but that's it. We probably should have done work, like major repairs, on the plumbing, but we didn't.

Some of you may be wondering why I'm writing about something as mundane as a kitchen on Shiloh Musings. Isn't that more a topic for A Jewish Grandmother? Yes and No. When it comes to the logistics, aesthetics, planning, appliances and things like that, yes, I'll be blogging a lot on A Jewish Grandmother. But a Jewish kitchen isn't just about style and even convenience. There is a lot of halacha, Jewish Law involved when planning a kitchen and choosing materials and even appliances.

Once my friends, in real time and the internet, facebook and blogging, heard that I was going to totally redo/renovate my kitchen the advice began flooding in. In almost all cases, I was told to get "X," because it would make Passover cleaning easier. And, inevitably, the recommended type of appliance or sink or countertop that can be kashered more easily for Passover is more expensive.

In Torah aka Orthodox Judaism we follow our rabbinic instructions/decisions/customs etc. Not all Orthodox rabbinic instructions/decisions/customs are the same, especially when it comes to Passover. There's a major difference between the instructions/decisions/customs of Ashkenaz (European) Jewry and the Sefardi (North African) Jews. And even within Sefardi Jews there's a big difference between, Yemenite, Moroccan and Tunisian etc including which cities the family had lived in.

It's not just a matter of who eats rice and/or lentils.

In general, Ashkenaz psak, decisions and procedures are strictest and most difficult. We are Ashkenazim, so we change and cover pretty much everything. We always had Passover sets of silverware, dishes, pots etc, so I never found myself learning how to kasher anything for Passover. Just take it out of storage.

Now I keep hearing that I must get a stainless steel sink, because it can be kashered for Passover. I may get one, but since I may have the chance to get a good regular one much more cheaply, then since I already have Passover sink bowls, I may decide to save the money. Renovations always entail extra expenses. We also need to buy new lighting fixtures, and now my husband is talking of changing the livingroom windows...

Countertops are another major issue. We have always completely covered our countertops. It's no big deal for me. Certainly in this stage of life I don't see the point in spending extra money and then have to pour boiling water over everything, which has safety and other risks.

When I say "this stage of life," I'm reminding you that the one week Passover Holiday is no longer a time of major cooking and entertaining for us. Our daughter, may she and her family live and be well, has taken over the big family Passover Seder and most other family entertaining/hosting. Our new kitchen must be suitable for two senior citizens, which is a topic for  A Jewish Grandmother.

What do you think?

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

Jewish Ethnic Customs, Sefard vs Ashkenaz, Maybe Cancel Them All

Unfortunately Passover, Pesach is a very divisive holiday. There are just too many customs celebrated/observed so differently that sometimes even members of the same family won't eat at the same table.  Thank G-d it lasts only a week, because the second most divisive issue, Shmitta, Sabbatical year, can cause problems for years. I find that one so traumatic, I can hardly even get myself to blog about it.

There are two large problematic issues during Pesach, the biggest being kitniyot, aka legumes, but not exactly in the botanical sense. There are non-kitniyot eaters who do eat the derivatives, such as soy oil, though not the beans. The basic divide is between Ashkenaz (European) and Eidot Mizrach (North African) Jews, or those whose paternal lines, ancestors lived in those exiles when the customs took hold.

Ashkenaz Jews are forbidden fresh as well as dried versions of the vegetables such as peas, rice, lentils etc, but the Eidot Mizrach have a wide variety of customs depending on which rabbinic sources they follow. Our Tunisian family members eat all sorts of fresh and dried legumes and rice after multiple checking, while Moroccan neighbors are forbidden rice and some of the legumes.

In recent years there are more and more Asheknazi families who have decided whether from convenience or conviction to adopt Sephardi custom on Pesach. Rabbi David Bar-Hayim of Machon Shilo (no connection to the Shiloh where I live) has been pushing for this unifying move for quite a few years.


The basic premise of Rabbi Bar-Hayim is that when investigating the history of the minhag, custom he discovered that the most prominent rabbis of the time the custom began opposed it. They considered it a mistake. Therefore he considers it permissible and preferable to stop this incorrect practice. The big problem is that he is in a very small minority. It would take the agreement of a number of highly respected poskim, rabbinic deciders to take his very interesting points reality.

photo credit

My feeling is that cancelling divisive ethnic customs should be an all or nothing decision, especially since there are many Jewish families like my own with more than one ethnic tradition-custom. It's very common nowadays, especially in Israel for families to be multi-ethnic, Ashkenaz and a few Eidot Mizrach all mixed up. When my daughter and her Tunisian family come on Passover, they bring rice. It's permitted for them, neither chametz nor treif (non-kosher) so I don't mind it on the table. And when we visit them on Passover, the food is cooked according to Ashkenaz custom so we may eat it all.

G-d willing, all of these divisive customs will soon be history with the Coming of the Moshiach bimhairah biyamanu, speedily in our days...

Quinoa Isn't Kitniyot, Legumes

Last night we were at a neighborhood Passover BBQ על האש Al Ha'esh, cookout.  The hostess provided the meat and the guests brought all sorts of side dishes.  We brought wine, since we had plans to be in Jerusalem all day (read all about the lovely museum we visited) and didn't want to commit to prepare food. 

All of the guests were Ashkenazim descended from European Jewry and keep to the custom of not eating kitniyot legumes on Passover. Davka, the most learned of the guests and his wife contributed a quinoa dish.

Quinoa is relatively new to many people. 

Quinoa, a species of goosefoot, is a grain-like crop grown primarily for its edible seeds. It is a pseudocereal rather than a true cereal, or grain, as it is not a member of the true grass family. Wikipedia

There is a lot of controversy among Ashkenazi rabbis about whether it should be added to the list of forbidden legumes or not.  This salad my neighbor brought looks like a bulgur salad, which is totally forbidden on Passover for all Jews.  Instead it was a quinoa salad.  Try this quinoa salad recipe leaving out the cheese.

It's ironic that it was davka these neighbors who brought the quinoa salad.  They are very meticulous in their Torah observance.  If it had been almost anyone else, almost nobody would have touched the quinoa.  Here's the Machon Shilo explanation of quinoa and Passover.

2. Exactly 29 years ago I heard the very same opinion expressed by HaGaon HaRav Shaul Yisraeli z’l. The conversation took place right after Shaharith in Y’shivath Merkaz HaRav, a few days before Pesah. I asked him what his view was regarding qittniyoth. He responded that only those items that Ashk’nazim originally refrained from eating were forbidden. Therefore, he continued, soya beans are permissible because they were unknown in Europe at the time. He added that peanuts are mutar, and that in his home town in Russia, Slutzk, peanuts were the item of choice placed before guests during Pesah. He explicitly mentioned that this was done by all Jews in his town, including the Rav of the town, the world-renowned Gaon, HaRav Isser Zalman Meltzer, author of Even HaEzel on the Rambam, who later moved to Jerusalem.

3. By the same logic quinoa may be consumed during Pesah even by those who refrain from qittniyoth; quinoa was unknown in the West till relatively recently.

It makes sense to me.  One thing is that I'm not looking for a food that has to be carefully checked. It's just more work when I don't have the time.

The Great Walls Of Pesach

I consider Kitniyot to be one of the causes the Kera b'Am, Split/Division in the Jewish People. Among Torah-observant Jews, I don't think there is a subject that divides us more extremely than the humble grain of rice or pea. Could there be the hidden message in Hans Christian Anderson's famous story?



Jews of Spain and North Africa are permitted to eat kitniyot on Passover, though some communities only eat fresh green kitniyot. Today in Israel, it's easy to buy rice and beans with the strictest of Kosher for Passover rabbinic supervision. The Jews who eat those foods aren't sinning. It's not chametz.




Our People are so terribly divided. Too many people use Pesach to separate themselves from others. In some communities, even those who follow the exact same customs, won't eat it in each other's homes. It's as if they're accusing their friends of improper observance of Torah Laws. I don't see anything admirable in that. It encourages competition, trying to show that one is "stricter" or "better" than others, instead of using this HolyDay to encourage unity and respect for others.

Back to Kitniyot
The aim of this post is not to preach the cancellation of the different minhagim, customs, like the Ashkenaz custom of forbidding kitniyot. I just want us to be able to be able to find ways to act as one People. In communities, like Shiloh, there is a lot of "intermarriage" between different Jewish ethnic groups. Many families, like ours, have grandchildren who are being raised according to totally different customs. There's rice on our Passover table, when the Tunisian branch of the family is over. I don't eat it, but it doesn't traif up (make unkosher) my dishes, nor make them chametz.

Baruch Hashem, Thank G-d, things have changed for us.
I pray that the walls between Jews will crumble like freshly baked matzah.

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Kasher V'Sameach
Have a Peaceful Shabbat and a Kosher and Happy Passover

Oy Gevalt, Kitniyot

It's rather ironic that even though the various Eidot Mizrach/Sfardi communities have a great variety of customs concerning Kitniyot, they don't obsess about it like Ashkenaz Jews. Simply stated, kitniyot are legumes, frequently grown and stored near grains. That's the historic rationale behind their being forbidden on Pesach by Ashkenaz Jews.

Many of us Ashkenazim have been taught that we should relate to kitniyot like "traif." Traif is actually less severe than chametz, since there's no battel b'shishim (doesn't count if under 1/60) when it comes to chametz. Actually, the kitniyot business is not as serious as gebracht, which supposes that there may be some uncooked flour in the matzah, so you can't get your matzah or matzah meal wet. I don't think there are any Sfardim which go for that psak. It's against their nature to obsess so hysterically about halachah; though in another generation we may see more of it. That's because of all the "intermarriage" between the various Jewish communities and Sfardim who study in Ashkenaz and Chassidishe yeshivot.

Many Ashkenaz women who marry Sfard men are disappointed to discover that they can't eat "everything." There are a surprising amount of differences from community to community. Some do eat "everything" in terms of kitniyot, but many don't eat any of the dry kitniyot, only the fresh green beans and the oils.

That's one of the reasons I wouldn't feel comfortable about having our Ashkenaz custom cancelled. There is no halachik-minhag unity among the Sfardim either.

In our home, our now Tunisian daughter cooks rice on Pesach for her family, and neighbors, who are halachikly Sfardim cook without kitniyot, because the vast majority of their guests are strict Ashkenazim.

Here are some links from Machon Shilo (no relation to my home town) about the issue:

The Minhag of Qitniyoth: Anatomy of an Error
Qitniyoth Rebellion Revisited

Shabbat Shalom and Chodesh Tov