Archive for the ‘Passover post’ Category

5th Passover Question: Why on this night no kitniyot?

April 5th, 2012 by Rav Shoshana

When I was a kid I remember my parents telling me I couldn’t have popcorn, ice cream, or soda on Passover. “I thought we just couldn’t have bread” my naive 10 year old  voice questioned. I didn’t understand: corn syrup? what does that have to do with Passover?

During the eight days of Passover in addition to prohibiting chametz, corn, rice, peanuts and legumes, known as kitniyot, are also prohibited at least for  Askenazi Jews (of Eastern European descent).  Sephardic Jews however did not abide by the same customs since rice and beans among others were the staple of their diets.  Why the difference?

It turns out much of it has to do with sociology of the respective geographic areas. Read the rest of this entry »