Reply To: Ta'arovet Hametz kadma l' Pesach

Mah inyan shemitah etzel Har Sinai? What does accepted psak for hundreds of years have to do with defending the state of Israel?

Also, if you actually took a Jewish Studies course, or read anything written by historians, you would know that the Hasidei Ashkenaz advocated things like whipping yourself, rolling around in the snow, etc. They believed these things had a cathartic effect. If you look in the writings of Yehuda haHasid or in R’ Eliezer miVermeisa, you see them advocating various measures involving a degree of torture proportional to the “teshuvat hamishkal” and “teshuvat hakatuv.” For instance, R’ Eliezer miVermeisa, in Sefer haRokeach, 27, says that one who commits adultery should “sit in ice or snow each day for an hour, once or twice,” and “in hot weather, he should sit beside flies of ants, or suffer similar torture.”

This trend towards mortification of the flesh is an influence on Ashkenazic halachic approaches, according to scores of scholars. It cannot be denied as an influence which led Ashkenaz to a Shammai approach.

I cited the Kaf haHaim as a source who says Sephardim should follow the Rema on Pesah. If we follow that logic, than we should also eat non-bet yosef meat, ch”v. Hakham Ovadia Yosef rejects that approach of the Kaf haHaim.

The point is that the Shulchan Aruch, the Rosh, Smag, Kesef Mishneh, R’ Ovadia Yosef, and scores of other Sephardic hakhamim embrace this approach and it is one I am proud to follow, that I can enjoy a true hag kasher v’sameach.