So . . . it's Passover time for us Jews, that most difficult of holidays for picky eaters. I don't like matzah (unleavened bread - and pretty much all non-Jews seem to like it, probably because they don't have to eat it) and I don't like my food options restricted either, which makes for a bad combination. In fact, I think I prefer the 25-hour fast of Yom Kippur to the eight-day bloating of Gas-over. Making things even more difficult is the tradition of not eating kitniyot, which is sort of a catch-all term for any food that is small and dried (think beans, rice, lentils, barley, corn etc.). This year, I'm lifting the kitniyot ban in my house.
First of all, there is no biblical basis for the ban on most foods during Passover. Like most rules religious in nature, the strict version comes from the interpretation of scripture as opposed to scripture itself. According to verses in chapters 12 and 13 of Exodus, for seven days we are supposed to eat unleavened bread, and possess no chametz (leavened bread, ie the bread one would usually eat, ie the good-tasting kind, or its primary ingredients flour and yeast) during that time. The Talmudic scholars, in their wisdom, decided that kitniyot were forbidden during passover. Well, they were for Ashkenazi Jews (those mainly from eastern Europe), but not for Sephardic Jews (those from Spain, the Middle East, and northern Africa), because they didn't take up the custom.
Why were kitniyot forbidden in the first place? Two reasons are typically put forward. The first is that you could make a flour from some of those grains, and therefore a bread, and your neighbours might think you were cheating on Passover. Leaving aside the paranoia inherent in that concept, you can make bread from potatoes too, and they aren't banned. Furthermore, you are not obliged to get rid of your kitniyot as you are your chametz, so it clearly isn't as bad. The second, and more likely, reason is that in the markets the barley, peas, etc. would be sold in big bins or bags right next to the flour and yeast, so there was concern that there were no "clean" kitniyot, that all would be contaminated with chametz.
You know, you can wash barley. Beans too.
Look, I understand the value of tradition and ritual, and I'm not trying to convince anyone that eating kitniyot is okay. I'm just saying I'm not going to follow a tradition that doesn't make sense to me, and I really can't see why fresh peas or corn have anything to do with leavened bread. I'll eat my matzah for eight days (one more than prescribed in the bible, another Talmudic greatest hit that made sense long ago - if you don't have accurate calendars, you can't be sure that you're celebrating on the right day, so you add an extra one, a tradition outdated but still followed) and not eat bread or pasta or things with flour and yeast.
Besides, it's not just about religion and ritual. I think there is value in denying yourself some of the things you like once in a while. I'm going to savour that linguini or veal sandwich a lot more when Passover has passed over. Most religions have a period of self-denial (or a lifetime of it, depending on the orthodoxy). Muslims have Ramadan, Christians have lent (which reminds me of a joke: a guy and a girl are getting frisky, and the guy says "I can't." The girl asks why, and he explains that it's lent. She asks "to whom, and for how long?").
But kitniyot are banned by me no longer, or so I had decided prior to Passover this year. Then, after making my grocery shopping list yesterday, I looked over my planned meals (yes, I plan meals out in advance - if you have kids and want to cook, it's necessary) and there was no rice, barley, or corn to be found, only potatoes all week. I guess some rituals are harder to break than I thought.
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