Re: Beth HaWaadh Permits Eating of Kitniyoth by all Jews in Israel During Pesah

maxine in ri <weedfam@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Pesach is a period of SEVEN days in eretz Yisroel. The rest of us
poor schnooks outside of the land have the "obligation" of an extra day.
Something to do with the length of time it took for the news of the
moon'ssighting in Nisan to travel outside of Jerusalem. Since we've been
doing it for generations, now that we have atomic clocks and
astronomical data that can be accessed in seconds, we do it, as Tevya
says for "Tradition!"

"Tradition!" is why Ashkenazic Jews don't eat qitniyos on Pesach, a
cusom defined by which crops were grown next to each other in medieval
Germany and that at the time the primary use of wheat and of legumes
were both to make porridge. "Tradition!" is why many of them took these
customs with them to Easten Europe when fleeing the Crusaders marching
and pilliaging their way through Germany.

Now they are in Israel. Should they keep their own traditions, or conform
to Israel's? Shouldn't we, as we settle new lands, form a single community
and a custom for that land? Isn't there a prohibition against this,
one we discuss every chol hamo'ed, when some in shul have the custom to
wear tefillin, and some not. Why is it healthier to remain lots of little
subcultures based on the customs of our parents' countries of origin?

This is true to some extent in the melting pot of America. But how
much more so in Israel, where people should be proud of living in the
Holy Land.

I am not sure qitniyos should or shouldn't be part of that emergent
custom. Custom, by its very nature, is more defined by the actions of
the masses than the decisions of courts. (Never mind courts few people
had heard of before.)

But it is not clear to me that the maintenance of separate customs is
the halachially right thing to do.

Gut Voch!
-mi

--
Micha Berger A sick person never rejects a healing procedure
micha@xxxxxxxxxxx as "unbefitting." Why, then, do we care what
http://www.aishdas.org other people think when dealing with spiritual
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