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cellioPesach is in a few weeks, and this week at services Rabbi Freedman gave his kitniyot rant (as he described it).
Kitniyot is a class of food that isn't, strictly speaking, forbidden during Passover, but the Ashkenazi world has a long tradition of banning it as a fence. This includes foods such as rice, legumes, corn, peanuts, and their derivatives. (This is, for example, why you'll be able to find special Coke in the stores in a couple weeks. Corn syrup is kitniyot, but some bottlers produce Coke with real sugar for Passover. Even if you don't keep kosher or care about kitniyot, this is a score for taste reasons.)
Rabbi Freedman believes that kitniyot has made things so complicated that less-committed Jews just throw up their hands and don't try to do kosher-for-Pesach at all. So he is encouraging people to eat kitniyot and focus the energy they save on the real issues, the 5 grains and leavening. Eat the peanut butter and don't worry about the Coke, but really clean out the bread and cakes and beer. A worthy goal; I wonder if anyone who was there will actually follow up.
My personal practice thus far has been to not stress about kitniyot but not offer it to guests (in case they keep that stringency). And I avoid "deliberate kitniyot" -- that is, corn syrup in the Coke is ok but I probably won't actually cook up a pot of rice and beans.
Kitniyot is a class of food that isn't, strictly speaking, forbidden during Passover, but the Ashkenazi world has a long tradition of banning it as a fence. This includes foods such as rice, legumes, corn, peanuts, and their derivatives. (This is, for example, why you'll be able to find special Coke in the stores in a couple weeks. Corn syrup is kitniyot, but some bottlers produce Coke with real sugar for Passover. Even if you don't keep kosher or care about kitniyot, this is a score for taste reasons.)
Rabbi Freedman believes that kitniyot has made things so complicated that less-committed Jews just throw up their hands and don't try to do kosher-for-Pesach at all. So he is encouraging people to eat kitniyot and focus the energy they save on the real issues, the 5 grains and leavening. Eat the peanut butter and don't worry about the Coke, but really clean out the bread and cakes and beer. A worthy goal; I wonder if anyone who was there will actually follow up.
My personal practice thus far has been to not stress about kitniyot but not offer it to guests (in case they keep that stringency). And I avoid "deliberate kitniyot" -- that is, corn syrup in the Coke is ok but I probably won't actually cook up a pot of rice and beans.
Re: Derivative of a fence
Date: 2002-03-11 08:26 pm (UTC)Yes, I'm just as Jewish as you are now. I have less in the way of family and community background than you do, which is part of what led me to make the distinction. But you're right that it's not a distinction that should be made very often. (And yes, I'm aware of the halacha that says one is forbidden to ask.)
So if my beit din consisted of Ashkenazi Jews, does that make me Ashkenazi? Or does it mean I should follow Ashkenazi practice? I had been assuming the latter, though I admit I'm splitting hairs.
I don't think the members of my beit din identify strongly and explicitly as one or the other. I can't even say from external features that they're of eastern-European descent, for example; I don't know where their families came from. My husband's family is Ashkenazi and he identifies most strongly as "secular Israeli", near as I can tell. My practice has been a mix of both traditions, in a way, with (AFAIK) pure Ashkenazi liturgy (but not pronunciation :-) ).
In general, I try to simply follow my rabbi's practice, or to have really studied a matter and drawn my own conclusions about what is most appropriate.
Re: Derivative of a fence
Date: 2002-03-12 06:50 am (UTC)