Mike says: "What will these clowns do for an encore permit pork, and abolish Shabbat? " So, Mike, please go out and study a little Jewish history and halacha. These guys are not "self-proclaimed", but were ordained by recognized yeshivas and this is what they do for a living. Pork and hilul Shabbat? Where did you ever extrapolate this from?

I'm not going to abide by some medieval minhag that's unhealthy for me, even if my ancestors happened to be Hungarians and Russians, and I happen to be living outside of Israel. Thus, because it's healthy and because the minhag was poorly thought out to begin with, I'm treating kitniyot as edible for Pesach and encourage same for all American and European Jews.

hey end up reporting on the radio that barley/wheat seeds have been found in "kosher lePesach leochlei Kitniot" spices. What the hell do we do when these kernels find their way into our soup ? There is some sence to not eating kitniot

And like every year, the only people who need to be concerned are the ones who don't follow the din that rice and dried legumes must be checked, and salt, sugar, and spices sifted. They have only themselves to blame.

If what you write is valid, then how did we survive four thousand (or maybe just three) without either rabbis or the Talmud? Ruth never converted in a mikve, and Halacha hadn't even been invented !

Tho I go according to Sephardi custom one of my sons of law is acturally Ashkenazi and there's a bit of frustration when they visit during Pesach. Truthfully, my son in law says that no one really understands the concepts of 'minhag' or 'custom'. The Gemarah clearly declares that such customs are entirely dependent on where one resides, not who one's father was. This concept is also mentioned in the Shulchan Aruch in Yoreh De'ah 214b. Another crucial point about customs in general is that they only apply to matters of prohibitions, IOW not every custom that exists is obigatory. This kitniot custom is a prohibiting one, but its origin is very unclear also the reasoning behind it is unclear. According to poskey Ashkenaz who lived at the time it started, they demostrated that they themselves were trying to discover the basis for it, and were unable to figure out why it even began. For it started without a Talmud chacham who would have make the matter clear and decisive. One of the oldest sources to this minhag is the Sefer Mitzvot Katan who found reasons to practice this custom ONLY AFTER it was an existing practice. In his work one sees that he refers to the original reasons it started, which was that people believed (erroniously) that rice and legumes ferment. This opinion is mentioned in the Talmud by Yochanan ben-Nori but is rejected by all Halachic authorities.This might also explain why the Rambam emphesizes that rice does not ferment, as this custom began about the time he lived - 800 years ago. Anyhow, my son-in-law still does not eat kitniot on Pesach but says that understanding the Halachic ramifications are very important. For further reading see Prof. Israel Ta Shemah's work "Minhag Ashkenaz HaKadmon" by Magnes Publications.

if living in eretz yisrael changing the ruling on kitniyot is appropriate to you what do you do with hard rulings like agriculture laws that only apply to eretz yisrael then do you see yourself as part of it or convenience yourself back to thinking like an american kitniyot after 800 years is part of our culture it reminds us of our parents grand parents and great grandparents our rabbis and teachers who taught us the importance of living in eretz yisrael they werent any less knowledgeable than these rabbis infact they were probable alot greater because they were accepted by the torah world as gedolim dont mess with a beautiful minhag rabbiyou have no right to