Mixtures of Kitniyot (Legumes) on Pesach
March 17, 2009 Today’s question came from Prague and concerned the prohibition on Pesach of eating kitniyot (legumes), which applies throughout the Ashkenazic community and in some Sephardic communities (e.g., Moroccan Jews). The rabbinic decree against eating kitniyot stems from the fear that these legumes, when ground into flour, look like flour of the five grains (wheat, spelt, barley, oats, and rye) and thus could lead a person into mistakenly eating chametz on Pesach. In the United States, major kashrut organizations will not certify for Pesach products that contain legumes. In Israel and elsewhere, however, reputable kashrut organizations will certify such products, because of the substantial population groups that eat kitniyot on Pesach.
The question from Prague was how Ashkenazim should deal, post facto, with a mixture that may contain legumes. Moreover, what should they do if they do not know the percentage of legumes in a product? By way of background, the general rule in kashrut is that, post facto, a dish that contains less than one part in sixty of a prohibited substance may be consumed. The rules of chametz are more stringent, however. There is no exemption for less than 1/60: even the smallest quantity of chametz will place a dish off limits on Pesach. Where do kitniyot fit on this spectrum? (In addition, we are more stringent in some ways with kitniyot than with real chametz. Wheat flour that is baked for 12 minutes is not only permissible on Pesach: it’s what we call matzah. But corn or rice flour that is baked for 12 minutes is off-limits to Ashkenazim, under the decree against kitniyot.) The answer from Kollel Eretz Hemdah is that one may buy and consume on Pesach products that have kitniyot in them, provided that the kitniyot are a minority and especially if the kitniyot were mixed into the product (i.e., the product was manufactured) before Pesach. On the pre-Pesach point, Rabbi Kermaier noted that real chametz is not a prohibited substance before Pesach begins. Therefore, if less than 1/60 of real chametz is mixed into a product before Pesach, it is nullified — from a halachic perspective, it disappears — and the product is permissible on Pesach. Conversely, if the chametz were mixed into the product on Pesach, then it is a prohibited substance, even in the smallest amount, and it is not nullified. The teshuva’s lengthy footnote 1 offers various reasons in support of the ruling. (1) The Terumat Hadeshen (1390-1460) ruled that one may eat a dish cooked in a pot into which a small amount of legumes had fallen, because the rabbinic decree that even an infinitesimal amount is forbidden applies only to real chametz. Whereas the Terumat Hadeshen implied that this exemption applies only if a very small amount of kitniyot fell in, the Rema (1520-72) appears to say that the exemption applies so long as the quantity of kitniyot is under 1/60 of the mixture. Indeed, later poskim understand the Rema as going further and saying that, post facto, the mixture is permissible so long as the kitniyot are a minority. In this connection, the Chok Ya’akov (1670-1736) ruled that since the decree against kitniyot is itself a stringency, mixtures including kitniyot were permissible. But the kitniyot must be a minority in the mixture, or else the dish is considered kitniyot. The Mishnah Berurah (1838-1933) further states that one should remove the kitniyot from the mixture if they are recognizable, but if they are mixed in beyond the point of recognition, the dish may be eaten. The Be’er Yitzchak (responsa by Rav Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor (1817-96)) adds that even a bare majority of non-kitniyot in the mixture renders the food permissible, because the kitniyot decree never covered mixtures of kitniyot and non-kitniyot. Rabbi Kermaier noted that this position has wide implications in Israel — where many of the foods that are kosher for Pesach contain kitniyot, since they are intended for Sephardim — and in the parts of the US where Israeli products are popular. (2) The Pri Chadash (1659-98) says that this mixture should be no worse than “challat chul,” which can be nullified by a majority. There is a general obligation to remove a piece of dough when baking challah, as a type of terumah. The Biblical rules of terumah apply only in Israel, but we apply the rule in the Diaspora as a reminder of the law. It is permissible, however, in the Diaspora to mix the separated dough with a larger supply of non-challah. Since the decree against kitniyot is not as strong as that regarding challat chul, the Pri Chadash implies that a mixture containing kitniyot may be permissible even lechatchila (ab initio). After all, before Pesach, kitniyot do not fall into a prohibited category, so you would not be manipulating the rules of nullification to make permissible something that was prohibited ab initio. Some of the poskim, however, say this leniency applies only if the mixture were effected before Pesach. The Kaf Hachaim (1788-1869), for instance, says that this may not be done ab initio. (3) The Taz (1586-1667) ruled that one may eat food cooked in a gentile’s pot, because we can assume that the pot had not been used within the last day. Thus, any absorbed taste of non-kosher food is not making the dish better and is not prohibited. (This principle is known as notein ta’am lifgam.) Though one is not permitted to cook in such a pot ab initio, once the food has been prepared and is placed on sale, it is considered post facto (this is a novelty, since we might have thought that the purchase is ab initio rather than post facto), and thus permissible. By analogy, the same can be said of food prepared with kitniyot. (4) Many rishonim permit nullification ab initio if the rabbinic prohibition was not rooted in the Torah, a group into which the prohibition against kitniyot falls. (5) R. Ovadiah Yosef (1920-), in Yechaveh Da’at, discusses the case of Ashkenazim who are Pesach guests of Sephardim. Though the Ashkenazim are prohibited to eat kitniyot, of course, they may eat food prepared in Sephardic pots, based on the ruling of the Rema permitting food with only a minority of kitniyot. The food was prepared in permissible fashion, because the Sephardim who own the pots do not have a prohibition against kitniyot. The text of the teshuva concludes with a few other rules: (1) There is room for leniency if the kitniyot in the mixture come from oil, because it is doubtful whether kitniyot oil falls within the prohibition. (2) On Pesach, the Ashkenazi should not prepare a dish that contains kitniyot ab initio, though some say he may prepare such a dish before Pesach for consumption on the holiday. (3) If one is presented with a food that contains kitniyot, but is unsure what the percentage is, it is permissible to add more food to the mixture so as to assure that the kitniyot are a minority.
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