Kitniyos Kuriosities

Oils, Peanuts, & History

March, 2019

Snapshot History Overview

Kitniyos is one of the most unique halachos. The gemara (Pesachim 35b) makes it clear that only that which is potentially acceptable for matzah –namely, the five grains –can, in turn, ever become chometz.

The Rambam codifies this as such (hil. Chometz u’matzah 5:1):

“The prohibition against chametz applies only to the five species of grain…However, kitniyot – e.g., rice, millet, beans, lentils and the like – do not become leavened. Even if one kneads rice flour or the like with boiling water and covers it with fabric until it rises like dough that has become leavened, it is permitted to be eaten. This is not leavening, but rather the decay [of the rice flour].

Nevertheless, beginning with French and German communities of well over 800-years ago, a minhag developed of avoiding all kitniyos items on Pesach. The Semak (siman 222); Rabeinu Manoach (to Rambam, ibid.) suggests that this minhag is due to the fact that we call the process of making dough with kitniyos ‘leavening’, or ‘chimutz’; others famously suggest that it due to the fields of both kitniyos and true grains found often in close proximity to each other, thereby causing mixing, and, due to the mere fact that flours are made out of both; Rabeinu Manoch (ibid.) allows for one more fascinating explanation behind this minhag –since on yom tov we are obligated to be b’simchah, these types of legumes are not foods utilized during celebratory occasions, rather bread (or matzah) is!

1. ‘Mixed’ Marriages

Several years ago in this space we talked about the concept of a wife following the customs of her husband. We explained thenn that there is no clear source for this rule in chazal, and that indeed the poskim debate exactly how to apply it.

Indeed, and as it relates to kitniyos, Rav Elyashiv held that certain customs are more stringent than typical minhagim and carry the status of kabbalos or gezeiros. He holds that an Ashkenazi girl who marries a Sefardi must continue to abstain from kitniyos on Pesach! (See Halacha Shel Pesach, Rav Avraham Mordechai Feldman, volume 1, p. 105, footnote 75 at length. Most poskim disagree with this, like Rav Ovadia Yosef [Hagadas Chazon Ovadia p. 50], Rav Duran [shu’t Tashbeitz 3;179], and Rav Moshe Feinstein [Igros Moshe 3:158]).

1. Here To Stay

No reader, I’m sure, is surprised that every year, virtually every rav is approached by members wondering if it would be technically possible to remove this gezeira (see Mor U’Ketzia from Rav Yaakov Emden, volume two, Altuna ed., page 47).

The answer is simple: No!

While there is a debate if the ban on kitniyos is a full-on gezeiras chachamim (Chasam Sofer, shu’t siman 122, inter alia) or purely a minhag (Igros Moshe,ih’c 3:63,inter alia), either way its halachic purchase is beyond reproach.

For, even if it is just something that we simply accepted upon ourselves -as the ashkanazi tzibbur – we would still be bound to it, as is clear in an entire siman Shulchan Aruch dedicated to the topic of accepted minhagim (y’d 214:2; see Pri Chodosh oh’c 496:8 who discusses the arduous task –if even possible! –of nullifying such a custom).

And, if it is seen as a gezeira instituted by the rabbanim, then it could certainly never be abolished (see Chayay Adam 127:1, with Nishmas Adam).

In fact, the Shaarie Teshuva (ad loc.) quotes the Maharil that anyone who violates this minhag has in fact violated the biblical halacha of lo sassur, and anyone who goes against such a rule is chayav missah!

Indeed -and it should not be surprising – the desire to overrule this minhag goes back some time. In the 1800’s when some wished to abolish this minhag, the Chasam Sofer (ibid.) writes, “they have nothing to rely on and we should pay them no heed…”

It is therefore worth our while to investigate some of the little known facts surrounding our present observance of kitniyos, in particular how these laws relate to the oils we use on Pesach.

1. Kitniyos Oils

Professor Michael Eskin has served as a chazzan for a number of years in Winnipeg. But that is not his main occupation. In fact, a few years ago he was indicted into the Order of Canada. This was for his work on Canola Oil.

Oil it a mystery to many. In fact, most processed foods are a mystery as to how they get made.

If I asked the reader to put down this magazine and to now tell me how they think Canola Oil is created, they will no doubt respond with something like: “One presses the Canola plant/seed until oil is extracted. It is then filtered and packaged”.

However, to the surprise of most readers, there is not even such thing as a ‘Canola’, per se.

Rather, the ‘Can’ in Canola is for…Canada!

For thousands of years, rapeseed was used for its oil. During World War Two there was a shortage of this oil. In addition, many did not like to use it in their food as it often had an acidic taste and a greenish color.

The University of Manitoba, led by two professors, was able to create a breed of rapeseed that was far more appealing. They named it Canola after Canada, and ‘Ola’ after other brands of oils on the market, like Mazola.

Today, this breed of rapeseed is produced as Canola oil across the world.

With this brief history in mind, we can better tackle the issue of Canola Oil – and oils in general – for Pesach.

My predecessor in Buffalo, Rav Yimiyahu Milevsky, rav of Bnei Torah of Toronto, comes from a long line of rabbanim. His saintly grandfather, Rav Aaron Milevsky, was the chief rabbi of Uruguay. He once wrote to the rav of Yerushalim, Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank, asking his view regarding peanuts on Pesach. In addition, he wished to know about its oil, as well as oils from other questionably kiyniyos products.

Rav Franks’s response was later published in Mikroey Kodesh, Pesach vol. 2 p. 203ff.

While Rav Moshe Feinstein (ibid.) allowed eating peanuts on Pesach (in a place where there is no contradicting minhag), Rav Frank splits the issue. So, while he suggests one avoid eating actual peanuts on Pesach, he allows one to consume its oil on Pesach!

When it comes to other oils, in particular Cottonseed Oil, he quotes from Rav Chaim Soleiveitchik and allows it.

What would be the difference in eating an actual peanut, which he forbids, and eating it oil, which he allows?

Well, this brings us back to rapeseed oil.

The Avnei Nezer (siman 373, cf. 533) paskens that rapeseed itself is kitniyos, and, critically, that oil produced from kitniyos also has the status of kitniyos.

However, not all agree. The Maharsham (1:183) makes a point (among many others) that is alluded to in many earlier works: Kitniyos can’t be more strict than the halacha it is coming to protect (see Chayay Adam 123).

In other words, if we are allowed to eat products (like matzah!) made from the actual five grains so long that we protect it from water etc., then certainly by kitniyos one should be allowed to consume it on Pesach if it was guarded in the same way. While we don’t utilize this heter by, say, producing shmurah Rice Krispies, when it comes to oils produced in a dry manner –through pure extraction as opposed to a solvent bath before they are baked – some are permissive.

While a minority view, due to the above, some do consume certain types of Canola oil on Pesach (see also shu’t Be’er Yitzchak 11 and Maharcheshes #3 for other reasons to allow kitniyos oils).

We can now understand Rav Frank’s thinking in regard to Peanut Oil: because there is a question as to their status one should avoid eating them, but this doubt should not be seen strong enough to ban its oil, which anyway some would allow even if they are kitniyos.

On these points, Rav Milevsky shared with me a fascinating incident that has been largely lost to history.

In 1909, near Jaffa, a one Bentzion Breslov wished that his sesame factory produce sesame oil for Pesach. Sesame, of course, is kitniyos, however he felt that oil from kitniyos should be fine, and that anyway, the sesames would not ever come in to any contact with water. He approached the rav of Jaffa at that time, Rav Kook, who wrote him a letter of certification for kosher l’pesach sesame oil!

The Badatz Kolleles Chasidim B’Yerushalim publicly came out against this heter, leading to a public dispute, with pashkivilim produced for each side.

Years ago, when Rav Milevsky was a rav in Memphis, he was visiting New York and stopped by a library that held rare sefarim. There he discovered a rare volume. It was a kuntres that Rav Kook wrote in defense of his psak. Unfortunately, the library charged close to $10 to copy each page, so he took notes and left.

Back in Memphis, he shared with Rav Nota Greenblatt his discovery. “Oh, I know that kuntrus…” Rav Greenblatt responded. He then promptly got up, walked over to one of his shelves and pulled out a hard copy of this one-time published kuntros. “Just return it when you are done”!

• Coffee and Haggados

Which edition of the hagadah has sold more than any? I’m not sure of the definitive answer, but up there is the Maxwell House Hagada that has more than fifty million in print!

Eight years ago, the coffee house came out with a new edition of their hagaddah, and the Washington Post reported: “Maxwell House owes a debt to the Orthodox rabbi it hired back in 1923. The rabbi confirmed that the coffee bean is not a legume but a berry instead, so OK under the dietary rules observed by some Jews during the holiday.

The haggadah giveaway began about a decade after the rabbi decreed that coffee was kosher for Passover as a way to clear up lingering consumer confusion and end the dip in coffee sales that had been observed each year around the eight-day celebration” (emphasis mine)

While it may surprise readers to know that some in early America did not purchase coffee on Pesach, the truth is that this is an old debate. The Shaarei Teshuva (453:1) brings down a chumrah not to consume coffee or tea on Pesach, although he leans toward leniency (cf. Minhag Yisroel Torah 3:447, and Piskei Teshuvos 453:7).

This is just the beginning of the kitniyos journey through history. Perhaps we will return to it some other time.

A Chag Kosher V’Sameach!!