Ta'arovet Hametz kadma l' Pesach

They make gefilte fish that is gluten free, no starch, etc. year round that is both healthy and KFP available year round.

This isn’t davqa bal tosif, but it certainly is rhetorically.

I see no merit in going beyond of what is acceptable from a halakhic perspective for the sake of self-righteousness; such self-righteousness serves to win the favor of men, not do right by G-d, and I want no part of that, nor do I see that as particularly useful in my avodat hashem.

I have a list of cereal Sephardim can use on Pesah from a rabbi with years of yeshiva learning and I have another list from a rabbi who is considered a leading rosh bet din in the LA community and which is relied upon for giyur, gittin, etc. (just like R’ Ralbag, who is seen as hashuv, but is rejected on kashrut, for whichever reasons)

Yes, but that doesn’t invalidate the psak of the Shulchan Aruch and it’s application le ma’aseh by Hakham Ovadia Yosef and others, now does it? I quote R’ Dr. Ronald Hasson on misperceptions people have about Pesah (Hasson is a leading respected Sephardic rabbi).

1) Even the smallest amount of Hametz is forbidden on Pesah.

False. Like all foods Hametz is nullified and considered insignificant if it is less than 1.6% of the total product. The original version of the Gemara stated that this principle is in effect even on Passover itself. However, after the period of the Gemara, a word was inserted into the text (unknown by whom) that adds a clause stating that even the tiniest amount of Hametz in a product renders the entire product not kosher for Passover. This became accepted as practice and therefore cannot be changed (even now that we know that this was not the original law). However, this added stringency only applies on Passover itself. Food that was mixed with small amounts of Hametz before Pesah is completely permissible to be eaten on Pesah. Rabbi Ovadia Yosef writes that any Rabbi who teaches otherwise is making a sin by teaching the incorrect law to people. One must follow Sephardic tradition when teaching Sephardic Jews. It is important not to ignore and abandon the Sephardic tradition just to add more restrictions than is required by Jewish Law. He also writes that anyone who writes laws for Passover, and writes them stricter than the actual law is, can not even be forgiven for this on Yom Kippur and must ask personal forgiveness from everyone that acted in a strict fashion on the holiday unnecessarily.

2) Any food not cooked specifically for the holiday is not kosher for Passover.

3) All items need a specific hashgacha for Pesah.

False. Any item that it is clear without reasonable doubt that it was made without any Hametz is permissible on Pesah. For example, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef writes that items such as raw meat, cheese, honey, jams, and canned sardines do not need a special Hashgacha for Pesah. This is the law even if the salt used on the sardines for example had some wheat in it, or if the jam was cooked in Hametz pots without anyone assuring that there are no bits of Hametz getting in. This is because the way of producing these items are uniform and it is very unlikely that there is a significant amount of Hametz in these items. The same would obviously apply to juice, milk, and other basic items. As the law forbidding even small amounts of Hametz is rabbinic in origin, the rabbis did not require one to be extra stringent on their laws. They made stringencies to protect against Torah violations. It would be inappropriate to make a stringency to their stringency.

The historically normative approach for most of Jewish history, for Sephardim at least, was to be like Hillel, not Shammai.

Stringency characterizes the Ashkenazic approach due to the influences of pilpul (no aliba d’hilkhata learning lends itself away from codification, hence the fact that historically, Sefard gave us the Rif, Rambam, Shulhan Arukh, etc., and Ashkenaz gave us casuistry. Many in Ashkenaz opposed the idea of a Shulhan Arukh- see the Yam Shel Shlomo in his haqdamot to both Hhullin and Bava Kamma; we stress bekiut over iyun, in accordance with the Gemara’s statement in Horayot 14b that Sinai trumps oker harim), the historical influence of the Hasidei Ashkenaz (Who emphasized mortification of the flesh, asceticism, monasticism, self-inflicted makkot, and other such spartan values, as seen in the Sefer Hasidim of Yehuda haHasid), and an overall perception that stringency is generally correct, despite instances where the halakha indicates otherwise. The above all comes from am address Hakham Ovadia Yosef gave, and he says that kocha d’hetera adif characterizes our approach.

Our approach is a legitimate one, and it is one I have chosen to follow. And neither the Shulhan Arukh, nor Hakham Ovadia Yosef, nor R’ Moshe Shammah, R’ Yitzhak Abadi (who learned by the Hazon Ish), R’ Ronnie Hasson, R’ Joshua Maroof, Hakham Dr. Isaac SD Sassoon, R’ Yehuda Boroosan (who works for the OU and learned at Ner Yisrael), R’ Yosef Bitton (of the Mashhadi kehilla), or any other host of Sephardic rabbanim are wrong on this. I haven’t seen any mekor say “v’hamachmir tavi alav brachah” and “baal nefesh yachmir” in a context of

If people wish to go beyond the halakha, let them. But I, for one, see no good reason not to, especially since the Torah tells me “haTorah chasa al mamonan shel yisrael” and “kocha d’hetera adif.”

Mesorah is an inauthentic concept. I hold like the score of rabbis I cited above. If you have a problem with this approach, take it up with them. I am not Ashkenaz and very glad I was spared the half-truths and ignorance spewed by many.

“Mesorah” is not an ideal we hold in an particular esteem historically. And there are many hakhamim who will be eating in our home for Pesah this year, including some of the above whose psakim I cited.

There is the mesora of Torah She Ba’al Peh and the “mesoyra” that is an invention of certain figures within contemporary Jewish intellectual history. Perhaps we have two different concepts in mind. But, in any event, the halakha does not object to the Sephardic practice of hozer ve neor as applied to specific dietary practices on Pesah. If people choose to be more mahmir than the Shulhan Arukh, they can be. If potato starch, not eating the skins of fruits and vegetables, avoiding garlic, etc. make people happy, “Gezunta heit” as they would say.

But I think that the halakhic approach of Rabbis Shammah, Hasson, Cohen, Maroof, and Abadi has merit, and if you have any qualms, I would be more than happy to supply contact information for these respected, Sephardic hakhamim. You can level all of your criticisms at them, since theirs is the practice many follow. I am not being “mechadesh” anything here, and am only relaying the piskei halakha I’ve learned from them.

Of course you do. Because it isn’t what you were taught, it therefore seems exotic, lax, overly lenient, inauthentic, and because it isn’t what bubbie and zadie did, it must not be correct.

Another teacher of mine, in response to the “mesoyra” proof, says that tradition isn’t a proof of anything. Reb Tevye Judaism, though, is a tour de force for many, for better or worse. The author of Eicha reminds us that our ancestors were ovdei avodah zarah at one time (Eicha 5:7).

When Orthodoxy confuses the second sense of Orthodoxy with the first, its teachings approximate Reconstructionism more than its own self-definition.

My actions have the backing of poskim, including the Shulchan Aruch, and what was common practice for many years among Sephardim, correctly, according to the Kesef Mishneh, Smag, Rosh, Mehaber, R’ Ovadia Yosef, and the other rabbis cited.

Ironically, many things are done in the name of stringency that were not traditionally done, that there is no mesorah for. Likewise, many cite mesorah as proof for ignoring the halakha on certain areas, as well. It can go either way. But, where there tradition is supported by legal valence, it is good, and where traditions lack legal valence, it is no good.

Chozer ve neor is an example of something for which there is definitely legal valence. My approach is corroborated by the Shulchan Aruch and R’ Ovadia Yosef. If some Sefardim choose not to hold like R’ Ovadia Yosef, that is their business, but the approach of Hakham Ovadia is one very closely aligned to the way in which I learn halakha. If you’re at all familiar with his psaq, you’d know that like the Gra, he’s not afraid of overturning minhagim or practices that are not in conformity with the Shulchan Aruch.

I never once explicitly said that Ashkenazim should deviate from their practices.

In fact, if you see recipe suggestions I post on this website, I will often indicate options based on individual stringency. If a person wants to only use nut oil, or avoid garlic, or peel all their vegetables on Passover, and if that makes them feel good, and if they deem that appropriate, gezunta heit. But that doesn’t give these practices any legal valence.

In fact, at our sedarim this year and for the last days, we won’t even be using kitniyot or gebrokts, since we will be having Ashkenazim over. Not that I agree with these stringencies, but we want to be welcoming and inclusive.

I would say that the Rambam, Ibn Ezra, Ibn Kaspi, Gra, R’ Yaakov Emden, Mechaber, Mori Yosef Qafih, R’ Eliyahu Benamozegh, Hakham Tzvi, Meiri, Netziv and others would all be censured in one way or another, since they all have views not in accordance with the street culture pop religion of today’s Haredi world.