Karpas – is any ha’adoma ok?

“Why can’t I use watermelon as karpas?”

You can

But isn’t any ha’adoma ok?
Yes

My family uses pineapple

We the Oberlander use red radishes. Don’t make up your own but follow a custom. That is a zechus to follow a custom. They used potatoes because it was most common.

5ish:
I think the chashash for not using potatoes is that they cannot be eaten raw. I’ve never heard of anyone holding that potatoes are not adamah.

Rational:
Parsley was probably the minhag in much of Europe. The kitzur records it as the prevalent minhag, and I’ve known people from central Europe who use it. I’m not sure where you heard Europeans hadn’t discovered parsley.

Dear Neville
What you said is interesting. Parsley in Hebrew is Petrozilia פטרוזיליה
The Aruch Hashulchan writes that karpas is petrozilia, “ואין אנו יודעים מה זה”

Possibly Rav Ganzfried had it in Hungary and Rav Epstein did not have it (or even knew what it was) in Lithuania.

5ish is referring to Tzanz and its offshoots such as Bobov.

Meno, they say shehakol.

Neville, no, it has nothing to do with it not being eaten raw. Plenty of vegetables are not eaten raw, but when they are cooked they are ha’adama. And Avram, he did not mean raw potato, which everyone agrees is shehakol. He meant cooked potato, on which Tzanzers say shehakol because the Divrei Chaim confused potatoes (kartofel) with truffles (tartuffe) and thought they are fungi.

A reason not to use watermelon, pineapple, banana, or even potato is that it’s too easy to eat a kezayis of them. Using radish or onion makes it more likely that you will only eat a tiny bit.

Any ho’adamah is acceptable, but it’s silly to use something that doesn’t taste good dipped in vinegar or salt-water!
For me, that means anything sweet like pineapple, watermelon, banana, and strawberry are out.

5ish, no, he certainly doesn’t mean Ha’aruch Meshach. That is a commentary on the first volume of Yoreh Deah; how would potatoes or mushrooms come up there? And why would you even think of that sefer in the first place? No, he means exactly what he says, the Aruch. But the Aruch never heard of potatoes, let alone saw one, and obviously does not mention them at all. He says truffles and mushrooms are shehakol, because they are fungi, not plants. The Ropshitzer simply confused potatoes with truffles. And of course there is no possible dispute as to the FACT that potatoes are plants, not fungi. So the Ropshitzer’s psak was wrong, and it is wrong for anyone to follow it.

Milhouse, I assumed it could not refer to the Sefer HaAruch because it was written hundreds of years before potatoes were brought to Europe. So, I assumed somehow it came up in the Aruch MeShach. Anyways I was not commenting on the validity of holding of any psak, I was just bringing up that some have such a custom.

I hold it with a fork. It’s hard to dunk a raisin-sized piece of watermelon without it slipping out of your hand.

If you use a pickle, you wouldn’t be dipping it. So then when the kid asks why we dip twice, you’ll say “What are you talking about? We only dip once.” and he’ll feel stupid, and it’s not nice to make someone feel stupid, especially a kid, and especially on pesach.

One sefer says that we are all fortunate that there were no potatoes in times of Geonim for if they would have them then, they would surely prohibit them as kitniyos because of their ability to produce flour.”

That very same sefer states that it is indeed NOT kitniyos as we do not have the power to be Gozar new Gezeros. Only what the Gaonim prohibited are included not any new…

My husband was told by the rav that you cannot use a fork instead of washing your hands.

Harav Dovid Feinstein in his Kol Dodi hagadah states that raw onions are not a borei pri hadama. Once again I don understand your proof as the onions are being eaten with something else not by themselves.

The Mishna Berurah states (205:5) soft ontions one does not make a vorie pri haadoma, except in areas where they are eaten without bread, but in our areas where raw garlic and raw onions re not eaten by Bnai adom even when soft without bread the brocha is shehakoland he quotes the nishmas adom that the brocha is shehhakol.

http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=49624&st=&pgnum=222

If I get people to start eating raw onions whole, will the bracha change?

Rebbetzin:

The Pri Migadem s. 453 Mishbitzos Zahav ss.1 and a”a s. 464 ss.1 writes that potatoes are mutter IF it is not in a place that prohibit the. (This implies that such places exist!

No, it merely implies that the Pri Megodim thought such places might exist, somewhere in the world. Perhaps he even heard rumors of such places. But he had no first-hand knowledge of them, because there weren’t any.

The Nishmas Adam s. 20 that the custom was not to eat potatoes except during a great hunger the Bais Din convened to be mattir it to avoid danger and extreme hunger.

Again, he was not speaking of his own knowledge. He had never seen such a place, or any evidence of its existence. He heard rumors, that is all.

That is the history of this strange myth. Nobody ever writes that here we ban them, let alone that I ban them. It’s always someone else, far away, where I’ve never been.

It is brought in Alef that Rebbe Yehoshua from Belz was makpid not to eat potatoes.

What is “Alef”? In any case, all kinds of people don’t eat all kinds of things on Pesach , without thinking they’re forbidden. Belzer don’t eat carrots, but they don’t asser them. Lubavitchers don’t eat radishes, Oberlanders don’t eat fish, Egyptians, who do eat kitniyos, don’t eat chickpeas. So it doesn’t surprise me that someone didn’t eat potatoes, but it would greatly surprise me if he held they were kitniyos.

One sefer says that we are all fortunate that there were no potatoes in times of Geonim for if they would have them then, they would surely prohibit them as kitniyos because of their ability to produce flour.

That is pure speculation. “One sefer” can say whatever it likes about what could have been in some alternative universe, but in this universe nobody ever prohibited potatoes. Nobody.