The Kitniyot Liberation Front

Rav Bar-Hayim is giving a shiur on his kitniyot psak. He is an excellent debater, so if opponents of the psak muster the courage to show up, it could get very exciting. Thoughts and Comments on the Kitniyot Psak Contraversy Date: Monday, 28 Nissan (18 April 2007) Place: Beth Midrash Machon Shilo, Najarah 34, (opposite #47) Givat Shaul, Jerusalem Time: 19:45 Date: Wednesday evening, 30 Nissan, 18/4/07 Place: Mosdot HaRav Aharon Soloveichik, Nachal Maor 27, Ramat Beth Shemesh A Time: 21:15 (Maariv is at 21:00) Disclaimer: Rav Chaim Soloveichik has not endorsed the psak halacha (but any disagreements have been expressed as befitting a true Torah scholar). If you can't make it, I am sure that at least one of the shiurim will be posted at www.machonshilo.org .

The Jerusalem Post has an interesting article on Machon Shilo and the Neturei Kitnyos. Head of Shilo Institute attacked for permitting 'kitniyot' on Pessah By MATTHEW WAGNER In recent weeks irate members of the Orthodox community have hurled threats and anathemas at Rabbi David Bar-Hayim, head of the Shilo Institute, his only crime apparently being an attempt to make the culinary lives of Ashkenazim living in Israel a little bit easier. Bar-Hayim, together with four other rabbis, issued a halachic opinion two weeks ago that would permit Ashkenazi Jews to eat kitniyot (legumes.) If Bar-Haim has his way, no longer will foods such as rice, humous, peanut butter and tofu be permissible for Sephardim only. Rather, Jews of European descent would adopt "the custom of the Land of Israel" and partake of kitniyot, as well. Bar-Hayim's detractors, however, do not want their lives to be made any easier if it means compromising tradition. "Your place in Gehinom (hell) ...

To the Neturei Kitniyos who are also defending the practice of observing an extra day of chag in Erets Yisrael, should note that the Chacham Tzvi wrote that: "...it would be forbidden for them to observe more than one day because of baal tosif. It is known that one who sleeps on the sukkah on Shemini Atzeret is punished by flogging and similarly on Pesach on who observes one additional day of holidy beyond the requirement of the mitzva has violated baal tosif."

Baruch HaShem Machon Shilo's psak has received wide coverage on Ynet in both Hebrew and English . (They are must-read articles in either language). I received an email that their website has received over 215,000 hits in March. Clearly, they have made their mark. Some disagreements have been l'Shem Shamayim and with respect, while others have merely besmirched Rav Bar-Hayim. To paraphrase another Rav: If anyone knows anything about the Sitra Achra and how he works in this world, then he would also know that the controversy surrounding an issue is perhaps a clue that it is authentic. For the Sitra Achra fights on behalf of two causes: in favor of that which distracts Jews away from Torah, and against that which will lead to the redemption of the Jewish people — the arrival of which means his own demise (Succah 52a). And so Neturei Kitniyos was born... fighting for shtuth and hiding the truth.