Passover

[dreamer_easy]

O that the Everlasting had not flx'd His canon 'gainst soybeans!

Tonight: vege curry, with additional sweet potato soup for Jon and rice for me. (We women of Babylon have no shame.)

Comments

Re: Passover

[(Anonymous)]

There's actually nothing inherently wrong with things like rice and beans etc on Passover. The problem the Rabbis had was that when ground down, these substances might be confused for flour...

You see, bread products are not allowed on Passover, however *you* are allowed to keep flour in the house on Passover, along as you don't use it. So the Rabbi's of 500 years or so ago were worried (they worry alot) that someone would reach out for ground down rice, but pick up flour instead. So the Ashkenazi Rabbi's decided to ban all substances that might look like flour when ground down...

HOWEVER...

This rule never reached the Sephardi Community (places like Spain and Turkey and Morrocco (bad spelling)). So they have no problem in eating these things. This means that I couldn't eat at the house of a Sephardi. And the problem grows larger when a Sephardi marries an Ashkenazi and so on and so forth...

(Now you might ask... why didn't they just rule that flour was banned. Just chuck out your flour.

Simple reason. It would be wasting food, and that's a big no no. It's hard enough keeping Kosher, but having to throw out all your food for 8 days would make life impossible. So you could keep the flour on the premises - but you had to (and still have to) sell it to a Non-Jew. And then buy it back after the festivities.)

I love my faith. Really. Its bizarre complexities like that that make me coming back from more. I enjoy learning about how the Rabbi's would tie themselves up into these knots... you always get the impression that they're actually trying to make it easier for people, by in fact making it harder.

But it's not impossible to keep these laws. I do it everyday. And yes, Kate I did bring my own food with me to Worldcon. And I also catered for myself at Gallifrey.

Seeya,

Mondy

Re: Passover

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

And the problem grows larger when a Sephardi marries an Ashkenazi

Ha! They have it easy compared to a lactose intolerant diabetic pescan* married to man who won't eat tomatoes. :-)

I also catered for myself at Gallifrey.

Respect is due. (But how did you manage it!)

* Fishetarian

Re: Passover

[(Anonymous)]

Went on the internet, found the closest Kosher Deli in the LA area and then begged and borrowed for a lift to said Deli. Stocked up, buying lots of stuff that just needed water. Oh and beef jerky.

Seeya,

Mondy

Re: Passover

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

Very similar to the Great Vegetarian Web Search accompanying our OS trips! (Follow Your Heart is a pretty neat restaurant, but a little too far from the hotel - I was fooled by the fact they were on the same street. :-)