More Passover thoughts
Passover is over. I had my traditional pizza outing (don't worry, no sausage or pepperoni). As I alluded to in earlier posts, I find the holiday and it's traditions fascinating.
It's interesting to talk to different Jews to see what they do or do not eat. Some of course, are extremely observant. They'll only eat foods with the strictest of Kosher rules. They have separate Passover dishes. On the other extreme (not counting the unobservant), others, "Just avoid bread".
Personally, I avoid the obvious things. I don't eat bread, cereals, pasta, cakes, etc. I usually avoid rice and corn. But, I'll drink normal soda (the corn syrup is objectionable to many). I'll eat peanut butter and other beans as well (legumes are forbidden).
These are the things that seem meaningful to me. Are they the Biblically and Talmudically (the Talmud is the ancient commentary on the Bible, often referred to as the Oral Law) forbidden foods? No. Not entirely. I'm fine with that.
What I find interesting is that some differences in Passover observance are accepted by Traditional Jews. For example, Jews of Spanish and Middle-Eastern descent (Sephardic Jews) generally eat rice and legumes as they were staples in their diet. So, I've occasionally heard people say "Hey, you're lucky, you're Sephardic, you can eat rice!". I also just recently heard someone say to an Israeli, "Hey since you're Israeli, you only celebrate Passover for seven nights". The bible commands Passover to be seven nights. But, Jews who are not in Israel celebrate the holiday for eight nights,
to account for uncertainty and delay in communicating the beginning and end of the holiday in ancient times (See Judaism 101).
Both of these customs are generally accepted by Traditional Jews and both of those comments are comments I've heard from Traditional Jews. But these are customs. It's customary to celebrate the extra day. It's customary that the staple diet was accepted for Passover. I don't understand why those customs are ok and other adaptations and changes are not. To me, it's about what you can keep and what is meaningful to you. Tradition of course, plays a large part in that meaning.
My point? It shouldn't be about what "descendandcy" you are, or where you are. The holiday should be a mix of the tradition and personal meaning. But either way, I'm off for some more pizza.
posted by Gatsby @ 10:07 PM
4 Comments:
Nicely put!
As always, the issue is that custom/tradition becomes law. Not of a divine origin, even for people who believe that Judaism is law of divine origin. But that the authority of the rabbis to proclaim something as halachah (Jewish law) does not mean that it is so written or implied in the Torah. For instance, Ashkenazi Jews don't eat kitniyot (beans, corn, rice, etc) because they can be made into bread. But Sephardim do. But that's a tradition. Eating corn on Passover isn't a violation of law, it's a violation of custom that has evolved into something that people believe is law. Very confusing and complicated.
People get crazy about Passover observance--my mother has always said that if the rabbis had been the ones "making Pesach" then the rules would have been more lenient. I'm inclined to agree.
Quite interesting post. Thanks.
So, how does something become halachah? How often has halachah changed or adopted through the years?
In terms of passover, someone observed that the more a given community of Jews were persecuted, the more strigent their passover observance.
Thus, Ashkenazi Jews are traditionally more strict than Safardi. Quite interesting.
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