The Kitniyot Liberation Front

Rav Eliezer Melamed is the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Bracha in Beit El and is a prolific author on Halacha. His series of clear, yet comprehensive, Halachic works called Pninei Halacha are mainstays of baalei batim and yeshiva students alike. Chapter 9 of his Pninei Halacha: the Laws of Pesach has recently been posted to Scribd and it offers good news for chocolate lovers: Chocolate and candy labeled “Kosher for Pesach only for those who eat kitniyot"  are technically permissible even for those who do not eat kitniyot, because the kitniyot in  these products are added before Pesach and are batel be-rov.  In addition, these products generally contain kitniyot oils, which, according to several leading poskim, are not included in the custom to prohibit kitniyot. He goes on to write that kosher certification agencies label them as "Kosher for Pesach for kitniyot eaters" because "people are stringent". I disagree and believe that this is really due to...

The custom of Tefillin is very ancient, even predating the custom of kitniyot. In the USA, tefillin are commonly worn during Chol HaMoed. When making aliyah, most olim from the USA adopt the the "Minhag HaMakom", a.k.a. the local custom, and stop wearing them during Chol HaMoed. What makes this so interesting is that: Most olim continue to abstain from eating kitniyot during Pesach under pretense of following "Minhag Avoteinu", commonly understood as the custom of their parents, rather than the local custom.  Most olim adopt what they believe to be the local custom despite the fact that their Fathers wore tefillin during Chol HaMoed.  And this is the really interesting part--wearing tefillin is not actually a Minhag (custom), but a Mitzvah D'Oreitah, a commandment dictated by HaShem in the Torah.  Ironically, the first source in the Torah that commands us to wear tefillin has a Pesach theme: And it shall be for a sign for you upon your hand, a...

Section 453: Laws Concerning the Wheat and Concerning the Grinding of Wheat for Matzos Even if a person kneads rice flour and the like with steaming hot water and covers it with cloths until it expands like leavened dough, this does not mean that the rice dough has become leavened, but that it has decayed, and it is therefore permitted to be eaten on Pesach .

The seasonal battle over kitniyot has already commenced. According to Ynet ( http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3686451,00.html ), Rav Ovadia Yosef takes a machmir--though not entirely accurate approach--that the Ashkenazi custom of refraining from kitniyot has been around for 600 years. As Rav Bar-Hayim pointed out, we are in Eretz Yisrael, not Europe, and we should all be adhering to the local custom. The error of importing this foolish custom only occured 100-150 years ago and has become increasingly popular as it became more profitable for askanim (wheeler-dealers). And speaking of Europe, a number of years ago, Rav Shaul Yisraeli of the Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva recounted to Rav Bar-Hayim how peanuts were served during Chol HaMoed in Lithuania since they were considered a luxury. Maybe we could argue whether peanuts are really kitniyot... or whether they shouldn't be included on the Ever-Growing List of Kitniyot and Things That Make Askanim Rich. It is interesting why Rav Ovad...

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 .

According to Shmuel Poppenheim, a spokesman for the Eidah Haredit: Every Jew carries with him the customs that he received from his father and his father's father. Smart alecks like [Bar-Hayim] think that they can come along and change everything. (Jerusalem Post, April 6, 2007, page 5) Mr. Poppenheim neglected to mention why he has abandoned the custom of his father's father's father's father's father's father's father, who lived in Erets Yisrael and ate kitniyot during Pesah. Nor would he confirm or deny that his forefather had dressed like Sinai Tor and those hilltop guys.

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.