The Sephardi Perspective: The Kitniyot debate: between tradition and unity

At no other time of the year is there such seeming distinction between Ashkenazim and Sephardim. There are few customs - and it is only a custom - which are belittled by even respectable Ashkenazi authorities as the laws of kitniyot on Pessah. Rabbenu Yeruham ben Meshullam (Provence, 14th century) said "those accustomed to not eating rice and various kinds of cooked kitniyot on Pessah abide by a stupid custom which makes it harder on themselves (to observe and enjoy the festival) and I have no idea why they do so".

Rav Yaaqov ben Asher rejected the custom, saying "it is an excessive restriction and improper". Rav Zvi Hirsch Ashkenazi known as "Zvi the Wise One" (1660-1718) and his son Rabbi Yaaqov Amdan (1697-1776) opposed the custom with all their might and wanted to eliminate it. They called it "a restriction that has no rhyme or reason for ever existing".

Rav Shmuel of Falaise (in the 13th century), supported the custom but nevertheless admits that this custom comes from a mistake and prohibits things that had been permitted.

No one really knows where this custom originated and many of its references are just to state that it was followed, without too much stringency to the forcefulness of its application. Of course as we know, most Sephardim do not hold by this custom at all.

Kitniyot are frequently translated as legumes, aside from peas and peanuts, they are not legumes. And some legumes, like alfalfa leaves which can be used for salad, are allowed to be used on Pessah.

The problem arrives when people associate kitniyot with outright hamezt, which obviously no Jew may eat during Pessah. I have often seen many Ashkenazi Jews recoil when seeing a Jew eating humous on Pessah and will not even sit at the same table with them. Firstly, they are missing the point of Pessah and secondly they are ignoring a very serious ruling about unity.

Rav Ovadia Yosef (Teshuvot Yechaveh Da’at 5:32) rules that an Ashkenazi Jew may eat non-kitniyot food at a Sephardi Jew's home on Pesach. He does not require special utensils that have not been used for kitniyot for the Ashkenazi guest. He bases his opinion on a similar ruling of the Rama (Orach Chaim 453:1), the main decisor for Ashkenazim who states "It is obvious that if kitniyot fell into food during Pessach, they do not render the food forbidden post facto."

Sadly many observant Ashkenazim will not visit the homes of Sephardim during Pessah because of these unnecessary strictures. Pessah, amongst certain Ashkenazim, seems to be an occasion where many will seek to bid to outdo the next on their strictures. Some won't eat fruit because of the chemicals that were used to grow them. Some will only eat Maza in a bag lest some liquid spill and make it 'rise'. I have even heard of some Jews who will not spit during Pessah just in case the spittle should land on Maza and make it rise.

This law which appears to have such little basis strangely has become a symbol of disunity and overt stringency. What is and isn't kitniyot today seems to depend on who you ask. Many rabbis allow certain types of foods and oils, while others don't.

The exact product list of what falls under the rubric of this prohibition is one that is subject to debate and discussion, and is often a matter of regional agriculture. The Sha'arei Teshuva (Rav Chaim Mordechai Margoliyot) cites a few interesting examples of foods that were almost considered to be kitniyot, but escaped from being forbidden.

His first example is coffee, which came with the fear that there were other grains mixed in among the beans. While he claims that coffee is allowed, he rules that one should roast the beans before Pessach to remove any such worries (and thus it would seem that today's processed coffees are not a problem at all). Tea presented a more intriguing issue. Apparently, dishonest merchants would use tea leaves, then dry them and sell them again. While this practice was despicable enough, it created the fear that they had originally been used with chametz and thus perhaps were problematic. The Sha'arei Teshuva thus advises against using these leaves, although he does note that teas bought from major retailers do not have this problem.

Potatoes should have been one of the first to go, since they are used to make a flour that could be confused with wheat flour (unlike, for example, peas). The potato only survives today as it was unknown to those who created the kitniyot list and has become such a staple for so many.

There are some strange linguistic reasons that some foods have been added to kitniyot and declared forbidden. Many don't eat green beans because green beans sound like dried beans. Corn was unknown to our sages. It is a 'New World' crop, but the Indo-European word for bread or wheat and the Yiddish word for rye is Korn and lest people get mixed up.

I am sure that the vast majority of people who entertain these strictures do not even know most of the above facts. So when they are invited to partake of a meal with a Jew who does not follow the kitniyot stricture, they will excuse themselves. This is halachically very problematic and preventing someone from hahnasat orahim on this basis is foolhardy to say the least.

Many people talk of unity and the need to rise above our historical traditions and become one people again.

There are organizations which are attempting to do just that, like Machon Shilo.

Last year, the beth din (religious court) of Machon Shilo, issued a religious ruling permitting all Jews in the Land of Israel to consume Kitniyot during the Pessah holiday. The signatories to this ruling were Rav David Bar-Hayim, Rav Yehoshua Buch, and Rav Chaim Wasserman, all of Jerusalem.

"This was a localized custom in parts of Germany, which later moved eastwards to Poland and Russia with the waves of Jewish emigration", states Rav Bar-Hayim, Head of Machon Shilo, a Talmudic research institute, and president of the rabbinical court. "The explanations offered for the custom are unconvincing. You don't find wheat in rice today. It was never accepted by Jews worldwide. Whatever the origin of the custom, Ashkenazi Jewish commentators have struggled to find good reasons for the ban.

"We learn from the Mishnah and the Talmud that customs are connected to a particular place. When one moves permanently to another locality, one is to adopt the local custom," explains Rav Bar-Hayim. "The custom of abstaining from eating Kitniyot during Pessah has never been the prevailing practice among all Jews in Eretz Yisrael, and is therefore not binding upon Jews living in Israel. A person may choose to continue adhering to his custom, but no one has the right to force his custom on others."

This raises a very good point. As I mentioned in my last article, the minhag of Eretz Yisrael is Sephardi and thus the practice of refraining from kitniyot never had any traditional precedence here.

However, the bottom line is put very nicely by Rabbi Bar-Hayim. Customs and traditions are important aspects of our familial history, whether they have a basis or not. They are an important element in the understanding of who we are as a people and the experiences that we have faced.

Customs like kitniyot should not be enforced on other people and we should not look down on those who do not have our custom or have chosen not to follow it. This doesn't mean that it should be a free-for-all and we should pick and choose the customs which suits us best.

We should look at those customs that only detract from the essence of the original halacha and see whether they have a firm basis or not. Customs should not be used to divide the Jewish people and following any particular custom should absolutely not be used as a barrier between Jews. If so, then we will become a people who care more about the minutiae of custom than we do unity.