PASSOVER GUIDEBOOKS- CAVEAT EMPTOR

It’s that time of year again- all of the guides to making Passover are out there for your perusal.

While most of what is out there is genuinely helpful, people need to constantly look at how sentences are written to determine if perhaps the guide has transformed some people”s custom into everyone’s standard.

For example, almost every guide book stresses that counters are required to be covered for Pesach. Yet, the Mishneh Brurah (a fairly definitive work of Ashkenazic practice) says that they do not need to be covered. To be fair, more and more of the guide books now say that it is Ashkenazic custom to cover the counters. That would be correct. Some people do indeed have a custom to cover the counters. Note well, however, the word custom. Custom is not halacha. Custom is just that- custom.

For those who would say a “minhag brecht a din (minhag- custom- over rules law), we say, “Nonsense.” There is no halachic defense of that position. We venerate sacred text and not communal custom. Communal custom is often wrong and misinformed. The Gemara (in Pesachim) spends much time discussing “minhag taut- a mistaken custom.”

Similarly, one guide book claims that glass may not be kosherized for Pesach. Except for the Trumas Hadeshen, EVERY other posek allows glass to be kosherized for Pesach. Why would we standardize a practice that is at odds with the overwhelming majority of halachic text? Granted, Ashkenazim require a three day dunk in order to kosherize glass for Pesach, and Sefardim only require a simple washing, the fact is that both traditions and halachot allow for it.

Stay with the Kosher Nexus over the next few weeks. We will try to be of help. You can write to operationpassover@utj.org and ask your questions privately. All emails are answered as quickly as possible.