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What are Kitniyot and what is the origin of their prohibition on Pesach? ‐

Noah Meimoun (10th Grade)

“Kitniyot” is the term used to describe certain foods that are not allowed to be eaten on Passover by Ashkenazi
Jews, but are permitted to be eaten by Sephardic Jews. This category of food includes things such as: legumes,
seeds, grains, peas, lentils, green beans, etc. There are three ways in which the Kitniyot prohibition is believed to
have been made. The first is that they were simply made as an extension for the prohibition of chametz. The sec-
ond is that these foods were normally stored with chametz, so people feared that the chametz would cause con-
tamination. The third is brought up by the Vilna Gaon who tells a story that Rava argued with people who ate a
food called chasisi on Pesach. This chasisi is translated into meaning lentils. Thus, because Rava said the chasisi
looked too much like chametz, the prohibition was made.

So now that we have the three reasons, one very important idea we can learn from Kitniyot, and the Vilna
Gaon’s story specifically, is that looks can be deceiving. In older Judaic times, a whole food group was made
prohibited to be eaten simply because they looked like chametz, but held no actual halachic issue. Since we can
expand on such a halacha because one might see wrong, we learn that something may not always be as it looks
at first, showing that looks can deceive us, and we need to always be paying attention.

Kitniyot ‐ Yitzchak Seifert (7th Grade)

We learn in the Torah that the Jews, when leaving Egypt were not able to make leavened bread because they had
to be able to leave on a moment’s notice. There is an interesting custom on Pesach called Kitniyot. But what is
Kitniyot? It doesn’t sound like any bread you would know, right? That’s because it isn’t bread: it is corn, beans,
rice, etc. Sephardim believe that it is okay to eat Kitniyot, unlike Ashkenazim, who believe you can’t even have
Kitniyot soup, even though the Kitniyot is so ground up you can’t tell whether there’s any at all.

Matzah/Gebrokts ‐ Jacklyn Kleiman (9th Grade)

Gebrokts is a yiddish word that means matzah that has touched water. Many Chassidic communities will refrain
from eating matzah that has come in contact with water for all of Passover. People who don't eat gebrokts will
be extra careful and cover the matzah while they eat it to avoid having crumbs falling in their soup or water.
Some people will go as far as to not eat Matzah balls, Matzah brei, and will avoid cooking with Matzah. Any
food that has been washed and might not have been fully dried is kept away from Matzah. When people do Ko-
rech and make their sandwich, make sure that the lettuce is completely dry before having it touch the Matzah.
Because this is only a custom, on the eighth day of Passover, some people have the custom of eating gebrokts
and will dip their Matzah in their soup and eat Matzah balls. Of course we are extra careful not to eat Chametz
on Passover, but I did not know that some people will be extra careful not to eat even certain types of Matzah.