Sunday, March 29, 2009

The Great Passover Rice Dilemma

At the most fundamental level, there are mainly two types of Jews -- ethnically speaking. I had to say "ethnically" otherwise all the smart asses out there might start with comments like: "yeah, good and bad", "religious and secular" or "what, only two groups!!!???"

"Ethnic" is the key word here. I mean that Jews either have North African roots or Eastern European roots. But before I get to the point of my posting, I have to add the caveat that now there appear to be Jews from India, Ethiopia, Greece and maybe even China. I don't know if they fit into either of these categories. BUT THAT IS NEITHER HERE NOR THERE -- I JUST DIDN'T WANT ANY NASTY EMAILS SAYING THAT I LEFT THEM ALL OUT.

The point is that the Sephardic Jews of North African descent are very different in some fundamental ways to the Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe. They pray differently. They have different customs. And most important, the only difference that matters to me right now, they eat differently. The Sephardic Jews can eat rice and legumes during Passover and the Askenazi Jews cannot. It sounds so simple when you state it like that, but in fact, it is anything but simple.

When we lived in Canada this was pretty much a non-issue because most of the Passover food products were tailor-made to the needs of the Askenazi Jewish majority and Sephardic Jews just added to that list on their own.

However, I don't live in Canada. In Israel the majority of Jews are Sephardic and therefore, the food manufacturers focus on their needs. I don't blame them, I would also. In other words, while the Sephardic Jews barely alter their eating habits during Passover, we, the Askenazi minority, might as well be re-enacting the Exodus from Egypt.

On one hand you could argue that its only for eight days so really what is the issue? On the other hand, and this is the hand I subscribe to, there is really only one ethnic origin of all Jews!!!!!! All it takes is a quick read of the Torah, The Five Books of Moses. And if you are too lazy to do that, you can google it on Wikipedia and get the answer in about two minutes.

All Jews come from the Land of Israel -- excluding the converts who joined late. That is the whole point of the Torah. God was looking for a group of people to accept His laws. He meets Abraham and that starts the ball rolling. Then, Moses clenches the deal when he takes the willing Israelites out of Egypt (see the Prince of Egypt from Disney if you don't like reading). Of course, only 20% were actually willing so right there the Israelites suffered their first and very large mass assimilation. The 80% were out of the picture.

The remaining 20% included about 600,000 men (they were not counting women and children at the dawn of recorded history). And when Moses went to the top of Mt. Sinai and received the Ten Commandments, the deal was done. Trust me, there were no other Jews getting separate instructions elsewhere!

It wasn't our fault that life got difficult again after Sinai. The Jews had lots of ups and downs which resulted in them ultimately being thrown out of the Land of Israel for more than a thousand years.

So my theory is that since we all have the same origins, and we were forced out of our land by our enemies, as opposed to by our own free will, then there is only one ethnic origin of the Jews and we should all have the same laws for what we can eat during Passover.

I am not alone in thinking this. But there isn't a rabbi for miles around in any direction who is willing to take up the fight. It would be career suicide. But at this time of year, when we should all be focusing on how great it was that we were freed and we became a people, we Askenazi in Israel are just too busy being upset with our pending food situation.

1 comment:

  1. My daughter Sara claims that the only reason she married her Yemenite Ariel is so she could legally eat "chametz" on Pesach. She is very much looking forward to having rice, Elite chocolates, and most importantly, a Milky, this year for the first time.

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