More Passover Questions Answered

(2011)
Dear readers - I recently put out a call for your questions about Passover, and a number of you responded - Thank you! I will answer some of them below.

Dear Tanta Golda

I'm planning a small senior's Seder with no children. Who asks the four questions when no children attend? Empty Nester Grandpa

Grandpa, a good question and one that our sages addressed in the Talmud no less! It would seem that initially the Four Questions were added to the Seder to keep the interest of young children who might otherwise drift off during the traditionally long Seder. Now they are codified as one of the 15 things we do in a Seder as part of the Maggid - telling the story. According to the (Babylonian) Talmud, tractate Pesachim, 116a - if there are no children present at the Seder, then the leader’s wife or any other participant may read the four questions. If all else fails, and a man is celebrating a Seder alone, he must ask himself the questions!

An interesting note, Tanta Golda discovered that in the Sephardic tradition the questions are asked by the the entire group as one. So it would seem that there really is no wrong way, as long as the questions are asked!

A related question:

Does a thirteen year old that has had their Bar or Bat Mitzvah still take part in asking the four questions?  Do they hide rather than seek the afikomen?  Is there any difference in how they take part in Passover seders?

As to the first part of your question, Tanta Golda would refer you to the answer above. Is the Bar or Bat Mitzvah the youngest who’s able to ask the questions? If so, they keep on keeping on, otherwise they should pass the haggadah.  Part 2, according to the Pasachim tractate 7:3 and 109a the hide and seek game with the afikomen, like the 4 questions, is also done to keep the kinder awake and involved in the service. In some families the leader hides the afikomen and the children search for it demanding ransom for its return, in others the children “steal” the afikomen and the leader must pay to get it back. As far as Tanta Golda could discern, it really is up to individual families to determine at what age someone is too old to be eligible to seek the reward. The same holds true for other aspects of the Seder, though when Tanta Golda was a girl, after her bat mitzvah she was allowed to have wine in her glass instead of grape juice. It would seem that as long as someone is asking the 4 questions, and everyone partakes of at least a small piece of the afikomen, the particulars are up to you!

Dear Tanta,

If we are attending a home seder, what is customary/appropriate as a host or hostess gift? Baffled in Etiquette. 

My darling Baffled, you pose a question that it would seem many in the far reaches of cyber space ask. Without knowing how strictly your hosts keep Pesach, here are some safe suggestions: flowers, fresh fruit and nuts, a Passover cookbook, or Kosher for Passover wine - here you have to look for wine that has a P as well as a K. Some will explicitly state on the bottle "Kosher for Passover". What makes these so special? Well, as Tanta Golda understands it, and I may be a little off, the vineyards have been guarded by rabbis to ensure that no yeast (leavening) has come in contact with the grapes. How they do this, I don’t know. Perhaps they’re Ninjas!

 Kedem can sometimes be found in the grocery store, but this will be a very sweet wine like Manischewitz - Not really a 'classy' hostess gift.

Dear Tanta Golda,

I was recently looking at an "Italian Jewish" cook book, and was surprised to find rice recipes for Passover.  It seem that the ashkenazic and sephardic approaches to kosher differ.  How could that be?  Are there other foods acceptable as kosher by the Sephardim? Rubbing my Forehead in the Kitchen.

Another excellent question! I've touched on this in past years but it's worth repeating. Chametz means ‘leaven’. It also refers to foods forbidden during Pesach. The five grains specifically prohibited by the Rabbis are: wheat, oats, barley, rye and spelt. These are the five grains most commonly found in Europe that ferment when combined with water. Being Jews, there are now some who disagree over the prohibition of two of these grains (rye & spelt) since they are not native to Israel. But I digress. Ashkenazi Jews under the direction of The Smak - Rabbi Moshe of Kouchi in the 13^th century added “kitniyot”.  Kitniyot are usually small fleshless seeds of annual plants such as rice, corn, peas, beans, chickpeas, soya,  and caraway that can be dried and ground into flour.

Sephardic Jews, those whose ancestry was initially from the Iberian Peninsula (modern Spain and Portugal), but now includes Jews who reside in North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, follow much less stringent customs. Kitniyot, including corn, beans and rice* may be eaten after it has been checked  three times to make certain that it has not been contaminated by chametz. *Now, I must note that some Sephardim do not eat rice. As we find in both traditions, Passover foods depend in large part on where specifically you trace your ancestry from.

Thank you for your thoughtful questions my ever inquisitive ones! If I did not get to yours this time, rest assured I’ve saved it for next year.

Hope you have a joyous Pesach with friends or family - Tanta Golda