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Thought for the Day: Of Spices and Kitnios on Pesach

Here's a phone call you never want to get on erev Pesach once you have finally finished all the food preparations and are ready for a well deserved rest and/or manicure: "Hey! I just saw that says that is kitnios?" I, of course, was fascinated by the halachic principles. Besides, my nails always look fine to me, so I didn't need a manicure. Nor had I spent an entire week of late nights preparing really incredible meals for my family and friends to enjoy. Nonetheless, I am not totally insensitive, so I have waited till now to write up why it was a case of "all's well that ends well". I also needed to get some details about how to learn a Mishna Brura from R' Fuerst. There were also implied threats of bodily harm if I made this the topic of a d'var Torah for a pesach meal.

At issue was cumin; a very nice spiced used in many recipes.  (Apparently -- and I just discovered this -- cumin is actually of of the most commonly used spices in the world.) Unless you are a foodie (also spelled "foody" by the less refined), you may not recognize that spice by name.  However, it s on of the seed spices cumin, dill, anise, fennel, and caraway; which are closely related members of the parsley family (Apiaceae). Most of us have certainly heard of dill, even if only because of the pickle. In any case, you are very likely wondering what this has to do with kitnios; which are basically puffy/starchy things like corn, rice, and beans.

Good question.  For a good answer, see the CRC stance on anise. So cumin is not really kitnios, but it pals around with the five grains (wheat, barley, oat, rye, and spelt) and therefore is problematic for practical reasons; similar to kitnios, so gets branded as such int the same siman in Shulchan Aruch (453). There the Shulchan Aruch says that kitnios are persmissible, but the Rema says we don't use them. As usual, the S'fardim follow the Shulchan Aruch and we Ashkanazim follow the ruling of the Rema. At the end of the first syef, the Rema adds that anise (and, by implication the other spices in that family) are not kitnios and therefore permissible.

Still scratching your head wondering what's the problem? Good. Now check the Mishna Brura (sk 13). The Mishna Brura says that even though it is technically permissible to eat those spices, one must be very careful to separate them from any grain products. Moreover, there are poskim who say for that reason that we just shouldn't use them. The Mishna Brura then ends with a citation to investigate for more information. The question is, what is the p'sak of the Mishna Brura. Does he mean: "as long as you are careful, you can use them; but you have to be really, really careful"; or does he mean: "I know some say that if you are careful that that you use them, but we follow the more stringent view and just forbid their use altogether"?

The CRC learns that Mishna Brura the first way and forbids their use. The OU seems to learn the Mishna Brura the second way and only certifies spices that have been very carefully checked (which we had). I personally understood it more the way the OU does; but I certainly didn't want to state my opinion without checking with R' Fuerst. That I did last night, and he confirmed that I was reading the Mishna Brura they way he would. Whew!

One more detail: this was all a discussion about whether we could use the cumin in new recipes during Pesach.  According to everyone we were allowed to use the already completed dishes. That is because the whole stringency is a custom, and so as long as the (potentially) offending ingredient is only a minority ingredient -- and even though it is a spice -- its status as kitnios is nullified. Frankly, if cumin constitutes more than 50% of the mixture, there are other reasons not to eat it!

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