[Avodah] kitnoyot

[Lisa Liel via Avodah]

> Are you suggesting that the frozen non-gebroks pancakes that I can buy 
> in the store today are a bigger problem than the matza meal pancakes 
> that my mother made at home?

Matza meal pancakes, which I grew up with as well, are nothing at all 
like regular pancakes.  The difference is clear and obvious. Ditto for 
cakes.  We used to have sponge cake at Pesach.  And we thought of it as 
a Pesach cake.  It wasn't something we had all year.

I don't have a problem with fake treyf.  So I don't really have a huge 
problem with fake chametz.  But to pretend that there's no difference 
between what we used to have in the 60s, 70s, etc, and today is just 
silly.  The difference is enormous.  And while I don't have a huge 
problem with fake chametz, I see another distinction between fake 
chametz and fake treyf.  You can't ever eat bacon.  So making fake bacon 
is reasonable.  But fake chametz?  Really?  We can't make it a week 
without waffles and pizza and pretzels?

[Email #2. -micha]

On 4/6/2017 6:21 PM, Micha Berger via Avodah wrote:
> Actually, you and I agree on that too. I think that minhagim should be
> mimetically defined, by definition, and therefore it's only a very
> overwhelming sevara that says the minhag is damaging that should change
> a minhag.

WADR, while you're entitled, of course, to think this, the concept of 
mimetics does not exist in halakha, and cannot therefore be determinative.

Lisa