My MIL used to go to Stop ‘n’ Shop in Connecticut. We were spoiled by Hungarian Kosher and Kosher Jewel in Chicago. Now we’re stuck with Kosher Ralphs La Jolla, which is way less stocked. :((
OTOH, there are tons of organic stores and products so since we keep ingredient kosher rather than rabbi certified, we get by.
We will be doing most of our Passover shopping next Friday at the Stop n Shop near my BIL’s in north Jersey. Much better options there than are here!
This is my last year with no kitniyot! I’m hoping things will be a breeze once rice and beans become options.
Wow, we thought we were cutting it close a week ahead for shopping. The shelves both where we used to shop and here would be mostly bare by first Seder. Well, matzoh and macaroons and canned matzoh ball soup and overpriced guest candy, but not much else!
DS is going to the Hillel Seder as a community young adult, and we’ll teleseder the second night.
@rebeccar why not this year?
I’m Ashkenazi, I’m getting married to a Sephardi guy. So I’ll take on his customs after the wedding.
Congrats, but you know kitniyot is now allowed for Ahskenazi as well, right?
It was the Conservative movement that allowed that, not Orthodox.
So funny. When my son was maybe in second or third grade, he was offered a rice dish at Passover at one of our Sephardic friends. He spoke to the Rabbi about the nuances. The rabbi advised him, if you want rice, marry a Sephardic gal.
I always assumed it was the wife who set the standards.
Just one of those things I’ll never understand. If you are orthodox, why does marrying a Sephardi change what is kosher for you? Nothing personal, I just see a lot of hypocrisy with all of kashruth, especially Passover. The whole idea that different Jews have different rules has always seemed hypocritical. Even the whole basis of kosher for Passover, not eating anything leavened, seems to be flaunted by a sponge cake. If it has risen, what’s the difference how it happened? Why is some leavening ok but others not? That should be the fifth question.
But I digress. Happy Passover to all.
I never understood why my MIL had a conniption if I used the wrong sponge to wash dishes at her Kosher house but ate shrimp in Chinese restaurants.
I’m pretty sure the leavening issue has to do with fermentation, not rising per se. Anything that can ferment, whether or not it does, is chametz. The minutiae of the rules are beyond me to explain.
But why, Marilyn? If the whole reason for chametz is that the bread didn’t have time to rise when leaving Egypt, it should stand that anything risen should be chametz, regardless of how it rose. And it should also stand to reason that any grain by itself should not be chametz. Rice and corn, by themselves, are no more leavened than wheat. The recent permission of kitniyot is finally applying some logic.
But I digress again.
Chardo, I’ve never understood why potatoes are ok but rice is not. I never thought about it until I moved to,FL and had so many Sephardic friends.
My quick research indicates that since rice et al swell in water, they were close enough to the five forbidden grains even though they didn’t ferment.
Also as a note, sponge cakes don’t actually rise. Instead they are filled with air bubbles from the whipped eggs that get baked in place.
Bookworm you never thought about it until you moved to Florida? I thought about it every Passover growing up. Even without Sephardic friends.
I’m pretty sure all grains swell in water. And all leavening comes from air bubbles.
I figure kashrut rules are like tax regulations - you just accept them without trying to figure out the logic or you drive yourself crazy. There is no why, there is only do or do not!
Orthodox Jewish law is that the wife goes by the husband’s minhagim. It’s like sitting or standing for kiddush or whether you daven mincha before/after a certain time. There is nothing hypocritical about it - it’s what happens, halachically, when two Jews get married. Of course different Jews have different rules, because there are so many different cultures and communities. Different rabbis will permit different things as long as they fit within the framework of Torah. These questions of why certain foods are acceptable or not have been debated and discussed for thousands of years by rabbinic scholars. The Torah tells to follow what rabbinic law says. I’m more confused though about why you’ve specifically singled me out for being “hypocritical” when, to be honest, most people on this thread are doing some things / not doing others.
rebeccar no, no, no, I’m not singling you out. Just venting about the hypocrisy (as I see it) with the whole kosher thing and different rules for different movements.
Hope you thoroughly enjoy your holiday. And enjoy next year’s even more. Because, you know, rice.
Observing customs to honor others’ beliefs or your own upbringing and traditions is not hypocritical, it’s respectful.
With that in mind, one of the great concepts of Judaism is that everyone is free to find their own level of observance.
If only they took a few more minutes to leave, we’d all be eating bagels.