Jewish Scene
Revolutionary ruling: 'Yes' to kitniyot on Pesach
Kobi Nahshoni
Published: 30.03.07, 12:43
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1. Now let's get to work on parve poultry...
Ayelet Chen ,   Israel   (03.30.07)
Yes, chicken was not always a meat item. And no mother's milk in which to cook it.
2. rice or k'neidelach
adi ,   israel   (03.30.07)
Just like I could never bring myself to eating rice on Pesach very deeply embedded custom amongst us Ashkenazim, by the same token Pesach wouldnt be Pesach without K'neidelach. "So put that in your Maror and Smoke it"
3. Married to a Sephardi
Chaya ,   Bat Yam, Israel   (03.30.07)
Since marrying a Sephardi man, I have eaten kitniyot on Pesach. So glad common sense has finally ruled! Never understood the prohibition in the first place!
4. This rectification is long overdue.
Raymond from DC ,   Washington, DC USA   (03.30.07)
As a Western-educated Sephardi who can hardly remember a family seder without rice, I say... it's about time this "superfluous" and "silly" custom was abandoned. The fact that so many, so stubbornly, resist the rightness of abandoning this practice shows how far our "leaders" have fallen. They obscure the distinction between halacha and minhag, they refuse to admit to a long standing error, they remain inconsiderate of the unnecessary burden they impose on the kahal, and they divide the community. I'm glad at least a few Ashkenazi dayanim have the courage to set things aright. It's only a first step. In addition to extending the takana to the Diaspora, we should begin addressing the issue of "second day chag".
5. ABOUT FREAKIN TIME!!!!!!
Jacob Blues ,   New York City, USA   (03.30.07)
Finally!!! We get movement on something that should have taken minutes rather than centuries to figure out. There is Talmudic wisdom and there is Narishkeit. The idea of Kitenyot in this day and age falls under the latter.
6. A Jew is a Jew is a Jew
Yoni   (03.30.07)
A Jew is not different in the diaspora than in Israel! Why do the Rabbinic courts institute such different rulings. It’s OK, It’s not OK, and every once in a while they change the whole playing field like poultry. The reasons for some of these changes are very petty and seem designed to boost a rabbi’s reputation rather than any religious aspect. Chicken was made un-neutral because a Rabbi or a group of Rabbi’s came to the conclusion if another Jew watched the first eating chicken with dairy they might think the chicken was beef. Only an idiot Jew or an pious Rabbi. Another form of bondage is what I call it. Don’t get me wrong I do believe in Kashrus but being overly pious at the expense and detriment of fellow Jews I think is a grand sin.
7. Gilad, Ehud and Eldad
miri ,   usa   (03.30.07)
I was married 25 years to a Sephardi, but did not eat kitniyot at Pesach. Not eating rice and legumes makes the holiday more difficult, but it reminds you each day of the hardship and sacrifice that our ancestors endured while wandering 40 years in the desert. Next week, when I eat my matzah, I will think of my Jewish brothers Gilad, Ehud and Eldad in captivity. I will say the special prayer for them at the seder: http://www.banim.org/index.html
8. #4
g   (03.31.07)
"As a Western-educated Sephardi " Maybe... just maybe... you should become a "Torah-educated Sephardi", and then you might learn the importance of speaking with respect concerning Talmidei Chachamim...
9. greater in number and in wisdom
yoni ,   jerusalem   (04.01.07)
most people do not understand that the torah was given to us in a way that needs the rabbinical contribution. it is impossible to have torah without respecting the rabbis. no mitzva or generation will survive and it is not what Hashem wants. when some panel of three people get together and decide to bullify an age old custom on their own without council of the leaders and sages of our generation we should all worry. i doubt their legitimacy as rabbis if they came out with such a ruling on their own. aside from the fact that a court must be greater in number and wisdom to annul an accepted custom among klal yisrael who are these guys?
10. Can't even get their wives to follow them
Lee ,   New York   (04.01.07)
How much hope do these 'innovative' rabbis have, if one of them cannot even get his wife to follow his lead? The leading authorities of Jewish law are not following their approach, so the likelihood that it will catch on amongst religious Jews in Israel is very, very low. Kitniot may of course be used for people who are ill, etc, but just dropping this approach--especially when great scholars such as the Chazon Ish ztl did not suggest such a change--is unlikely in the national religious circles and almost impossible to imagine in chareidi circles.
11. Dietary Laws
Renee, NYC   (04.01.07)
I wonder if those same people, who think that eating rice on Passover will bring the wrath of God down on their heads, have eaten "Kosher for Passover" chocolate. When my grandfather was a child on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, he said that many of the candy stores closed during Passover because there was such a strong prohibition against eating chocolate, yet now it seems that chocolate has been given some sort of rabbinical dispensation.
12. Freedom from Misagas! Eat Kitniyot its good for you! :)
(04.01.07)
13. Customs that rabbis declared
Zev ,   Israel   (04.01.07)
Many customs that were declared by rabbis were declared because of specific reasons that were explained by those rabbis. These were not laws by G-d that we do not always know the reason. Since rabbis declared these customs and gave the reason, can someone explain why when those reasons are no longer valid, rabbis can not declare that the custom is no longer necessary.
14. I seem to remember...
Dorothy Friend ,   Tel Aviv   (04.01.07)
... that a Karite Jew (army officer) I dated in college had no problem with this.
15. #5 - Ditto this thing about fish and meat
Dorothy Friend ,   Tel Aviv   (04.01.07)
A rabbi and professor at Bar Ilan told me this is the victory of ignorance over wisdom
16. Kitniyot
Andrew ,   Jerusalem   (04.01.07)
New ruling? This is marginal compared to the Kitniyot Tshuva at www.responsafortoday.com Volume 3. Hag Sameach
17. Kitniyot
Rabbi E Parkoff ,   Jerusalem, Israel   (04.01.07)
Wall is not about to crack. Just because a few fringe rabbis open their mouths doesn't mean that suddenly everyone is going to lose their minds and listen to them.
18. #10: "He who lives in chutz la'aretz is as if he has no G-d"
Yonathan ,   Judean Hills   (04.01.07)
So say our Sages in Macheseth Kebuboth of the Gemara. Do you really think that you can lecture these esteemed Rabbi's sitting in New Yuk?
19. BEANS WILL SAVE ISRAEL,MAYBE RELEASING GAS IS IMPORTANT?
..............DACON9   (04.01.07)
20. #8 AND #4 #6
..............DACON9   (04.01.07)
#8 I DO NOT SEE ANY DISRESPECT TOWARDS ANY RABBIS. I SEE QUESTIONING WHICH IS PARAMOUNT IN JUDAISM, I SEE HIS STATEMENT THAT HE DOES FOLLOW THE MINHAG BUT WOULD LIKE IT CHANGED, THAT MEANS #4 IS A TORAH JEW. To blindly follow the rabbis of today is wrong. These rabbis ,are they rabbis according to TORAH? TORAH HAS CHECKS AND BALANCES WE WILL CHECK AND WE WILL BALANCE. #4 Be careful you dont radicalize yourself to much without education refering to your 2ND day chag. YOU MAY BE BURDENING *YOURSELF BY YOUR SELF. I believe you are making yourself as a WISE KING SOLOMAN , ARROGANCE MAY BE SEEPING INTO YOUR THOUGHT PROCESS. #6 ONLY IN the next world is a jew a jew a jew, Here we must judge if a JEW IS in fact a 'jew' or something more like a rotten apple and must be thrown out. by the way is that margerine on the table or butter? ________________________ i think the rabbi that made this new decison is SEPHARDIC. HERES HIS SITE. www.machonshilo.org ______________________ PERSONALLY i beleive JEWS HAVE A MUCH BIGGER PROBLEM THAN THIS. JUDAISM HAS THIS SECULARISM THIS XTIAN MISSIONARY ATTACK THIS REFORM MOVEMENT WHICH IS NOT JUDAISM IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR MANNER. __________________________ AND WE HAVE ISRAELI LEADERS GIVING AWAY ISRAEL ____________________________ I THINK YOU SHOULD BE PERMITTED TO HAVE BEANS.... YOU GUYS HAVE TO RELEASE ALL THE BUILT UP GAS IN YOUR SYSTEM ___________________________ I AM SEPHARDIC..... my objection is the black european clothing, those wide brim hats the pants tucked into the socks the fur hats I THINK WE ALL SHOULD REVERT BACK TO THE DAYS WE ALL WORE COLORFUL ROBES AND TURBANS AND KAFTANS.. ____________ I ALSO THINK THAT RABBI SHOULD WORRY ABOUT MUCH GREATER PROBLEMS FOR THE NATION OF ISRAEL AS I LISTED ONLY BRIEFLY ABOVE. _______________________ KOSHER PESACH TO ALL I OBSERVE THE 2 DAYS BECAUSE ...SO WHAT.....THE RABBIS SAID SO ITS GOOD ENOUGH ________________ MASHIACH IS SEPHARDIC THANK YOU ALL DACON9, BROOKLYN NY things are simpler in Brooklyn. we all wear kipot made from any available materiel on sale the main distinction here is.... DO YOU BELIEVE IN TORAH DO YOU BELIEVE IN HASHEM. YES? OK THEN TRY TO BE A LITTLE BETTER JEW TOMORROW YA WANNA WALK WITH ME TO SHUL? not today? ok tomorrow we'll go together. GET THE MESSAGE
21. DOROTHY, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,KARAITES ARE NOT JEWS
..............DACON9   (04.01.07)
22. Healing Breaches in Torah
Paqid 16 Netzarim ,   Ra'anana, Israel   (04.01.07)
Kol ha-kavod for this step forward in logical Halakhah, unifying Beit Yisraeil and, concurrently, the Name. Shame on arrogant hypocrites who perpetuate divisions in Beit Yisraeil, worshipping shepherds of European assimilation instead of Torah, Paqid Yirmeyahu Israeli Orthodox Jew Advancing Logic as Halakhic Authority Welcoming Jews & non-Jews www.netzarim.co.il
23. Who are these self proclaimed "rabbis"?
mike ,   Jerusalem   (04.01.07)
The Ashkenazi world has teh Lithuanian Posek (Recognized rabbinic Authority) Rav Y. S. Eliashiv, The Chassidic world has various Poskim such as Rav Wozner, Rav Schmerler, etc. and they have years of Halachic experience that surpasses these band of "johnny come latelys" whose leader was involved in teh now almost dead erzatz Sinhedrin. When a true Torah Authority comes out and permits kitniyot on Pesach for Ashkenazim that will be news worthy of reporting! What will these clowns do for an encore permit pork, and abolish Shabbat? Why don't you report on the 13 apostles ao the now defuct Sinhedrin who are planning to ascend the Temple Mount and sacrifice the Paschal lamb tomorrow? That should give the muslims a REAL reason to riot!
24. The real tragedy...
Maidel ,   NY, USA   (04.01.07)
...is that people like #23 cannot distinguish between a mitzvah m'd'oraita from a minhag shtus.
25. Kitniyot, yeah or neah?
eli ,   israel   (04.01.07)
Who cares what the rabbis think or say. We should all decide for ourselves and think for ourselves. Hag sameah
26. #25 ELI..YOUR A JEW? #23..HE IS A ''TRUE'' TORAH RABBI?
WHO RECOGNIZED HIM? ,   ..............DACON9   (04.01.07)
27. i accept my husband's psak
the rabbi's wife   (04.01.07)
the article mis represented my stance - i just personally find no hardship in avoiding real kitniot - old habits die hard. and anyhow no one says one must eat rice on pesach .secondly i enjoy preparing traditional ashkenazi pesach dishes i ate as a child and creating new ones within these guidelines making peasach food extra special. we have kitniyot at home and those who wish to eat them are welcome to. beyond kitniyot themselves - to day is that the prohibition has been extended to miniscule quantities of preservatives or stabilizers and also to new products such as canola. " are used in our food. all jews shlould realise this is absurd even if you wish to refrain fron rice and beans. a friend reported that tomato paste was labeled "kitniyot". obviously i use these products without hesitation
28. recognition
eddie ,   Jerusalem   (04.01.07)
not everyone recognizes the authority of the Lithuanian ashkenazi leader, and that includes some of the ashkenazim themselves. Furthermore, ther eis no prohibition in the Torah about legumes, and neither does Maimonides forbid them
29. APRIL FOOLS!!!
sloof lirpa ,   canada   (04.02.07)
30. Don't lable JEWS & Talk about issues
Shlomo Walfish ,   Woodmere, NY   (04.02.07)
The 2nd temple was destroyed because of Sinat Chinam. Using labels on Jews gives you a way to say the other Jew is different and continue some level of Sinat Chinam. We need to all be Jews. Ashkenazy (German) and Sefardy (Morocan...) are IRRELEVENT words today. If we really want Moshiach and a third Temple, lets all start acting as we want it and unite as ONE nation. That means getting the Exile (and Exile customs) out of the Jew. Eating Kitniyot is a great 1st step towards unification. Anyone who disagrees needs to discuss the issue of why we should continue this Prohibition. By attacking courageous and honest Rabbanim who know 1000 times more about Psak then any of you critics with Lashon Hara and Motzie Shem Rah, you are only perpetuate Sinat Chinam and the Exile mentality. You are welcome to disagree but speak of issues. And stop thinking you are an Ashkenazi (German), You should know the Germans did to the Jews, get the message, you are a “JEW”. Chag Sameach.
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