[Avodah] Peanuts and other Kitnios

[Zev Sero]

Danny Schoemann wrote:
> I wrote:
>>> Barley grows on a stalk - each kernel in it's own bran,
> and R' Zev Sero replied:
>> Barley isn't kitniyot, it's dagan.
> 
> Obviously, :-) but you surely agree that the gezerah/takono/minhag of
> kitnios is somehow related to confusing them with dagan (chometz).
> 
> Since we're currently discussing "sharvit" I was trying to figure out
> how barley & wheat get confused with beans, peanuts and tiny mustard.

The original reason for gezerat kitniyot isn't really known, because
there are no records of who made the gezera, and when.  But the
generally given reason is that kitniyot such as peas, beans, and
lentils, are cooked in a pottage ("daysa" in Hebrew, "kashe" in
Yiddish), just like barley, so the fear was that an am haaretz would
see that kashe is permitted on Pesach, and would go home and cook
a barley kashe.  So they banned the entire species of kitniyot,
which is characterised by growing in a pod.

(Linguistic note: somehow, in the last generation or two, "kashe"
seems to have come to mean buckwheat.  But in Yiddish "kashe" is a
generic term for any cooked grain or kitniyot, and buckwheat is
called "shvartze kashe".)

(Second note: buckwheat is not a grain or a legume, so if it were
not known at the time of the gezera it's possible that it would not
be included.  But it was known then, and since it is in fact cooked
like a kashe it was included in the ban.  This *might* be a reason
to ban quinoa as well.)


>>> Peanut pods grow underground in bean-like fashion
>> But they're still pods, just like pea pods.  Hence the name "pea nuts".
> 
> Actually they look very different and there manner of growing is
> totally dissimilar - so where do they get confused with beans and how
> do both of them get confused with barley?

They wouldn't, but the gezera seems to have been on the entire
family of pod-growing seeds.


>>> Mustard grows in flowers with seeds about 1 mm in diameter
>> The seeds are inside pods.  I know because I once grew some.
> 
> But these must be tiny pods, as these pretty yellow mustard plants are
> rather small.

They are indeed small pods - as I recall they were about 2 cm long.
And mustard is not cooked as a pottage, so there would be no reason
to ban it on its own.  But when they banned all pod-growing seeds,
mustard was included.

-- 
Zev Sero               Something has gone seriously awry with this Court's
zev at sero.name          interpretation of the Constitution.
                       	                          - Clarence Thomas