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Jewish Practice Jewish Holidays Passover 2024 (Pesach) Printable Passover Guide - 2024

Kitniyot

Eating legumes (kitniyot) on Passover was banned by medieval Jewish sages, because they are similar in texture to chametz. This ban was accepted in all Ashkenazi communities.

The medieval Jewish sages placed a ban on eating legumes (קִטְנִיּוֹת, pronounced kitniyot) on Passover, because they are similar in texture to chametz—even bread can be made out of their flour—so people might assume that if, for example, cornbread can be eaten on Passover, wheat or rye bread can be eaten too. This prohibition includes rice, beans and corn. This injunction was unanimously accepted by Ashkenazic Jews; many Sephardic Jews, however, continue to eat kitniyot on Passover. If you are Sephardic, speak to your rabbi to determine your family and community tradition.

The prohibition is only with regards to consumption of kitniyot; there is no obligation, however, to destroy or sell kitniyot products before Passover.

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59 Comments

Lenny Demel Los Angeles April 10, 2023

I am Ashkenazi and I do not kitniot on Pesach. My wife’s father is Farsi. Is it ok for her to eat kitniot—I assume from separate pots and other dishes—? It would be ok with me for sure. Reply

Simcha Bart April 11, 2023

in response to Lenny Demel:

In general, the wife follows the husband's custom in this matter. The husband though may choose to agree to his wife following her family custom. Reply

Simon Apperloo Mürlenbach April 7, 2023

A peanut is a bean, are peanuts kitniyot? Reply

Simcha Bart April 11, 2023

in response to Simon Apperloo:

Peanuts are indeed Kitniyot. See chabad.org/4686766 about this. Reply

Albert Plainview April 17, 2023

in response to Simcha Bart:

Not according to Rav Moshe Feinstein Reply

Rabbi Yehuda Shurpin April 25, 2023

in response to Albert:

Rabbi Moshe Feinstein's opinion regarding peanuts is indeed brought and discussed in the article that was linked to. Will repost the link: Are Peanuts Kosher for Passover? - Would they be included in the kitniyot ban? Reply

Marcie Murray Minneapolis February 13, 2023

Are Pine Nuts that are marked KLP considered Kitniyos for Ashkenazim? Reply

Eliezer Zalmanov for Chabad.org February 13, 2023

in response to Marcie Murray:

Pine nuts are not kitniyos.

A general rule about products certified by a reliable kosher supervising agency: If it's kitniyos, they will mark it as such; so if it is certified kosher for Passover and there is no kitniyos marking, you can assume that it isn't kitniyos. Reply

Marcie Murray Minneapolis February 13, 2023

in response to Eliezer Zalmanov:

Thank you. What are pine nuts (AKA Pignoli Nuts) since they are not kitniyos?? Just nuts? Reply

Lesley Christensen Nysted April 6, 2017

Why some do - do not - Kitniyot Although I found several interesting links I do not find any reasons WHY these are prohibited.

Rationally, I expect it has something to do with the then known (today lost) knowledge of the process involved in a product at specific life of the product at a particular time of the season and, most likely derivative from the region in which the prohibition originated and, it seems, in this case, in Ashkenazi - would then be Eastern Europe.

I imagine, it could for example be - the types of worms and insects of that season that could accidentally be swallowed.

But then, this is just me - my thoughts on the subject without any particular knowledge. Reply

Albert May 31, 2016

The rabbis do not want to change. Two orthodox rabbis, one Sephardic and one Ashkenaz, one is permitted to eat kitniyot the other will not, and forbids. Makes sense? One is enjoying the holiday and one is so severely restricted that it is questionable if he or she can enjoy. There is a tendency in our religion that to restrict is to make holy or holier. It becomes an obsession about who is holier or who is kosher enough. Can it be asur in the eyes of Hashem that an ashkenaz can't eat legumes but an Sephard can? Permissible for one and not the other? Makes no sense. Reply

Hila Miami April 9, 2017

in response to Albert:

It's all minhag (custom) and belief nothing about one can and the other can't. My father is sepharadic and we don't eat ktniot on pesach. Everyone has their own minhag. Reply

Anonymous DALLAS April 26, 2017

in response to Albert:

My family does not eat kitniyot and we had a great time. Plenty of food, wine and Arak! Reply

Levana Kirschenbaum March 30, 2021

in response to Hila:

Same here. We are Sephardi, and we had no kitnyot!
severely restricted? Give me a break! If you can have all the produce, all the fish, all the poultry, all the meat, all the wine you can possibly dream of, are you restricted? Is this a new firm of narcissism or something? I got news for you: many people don’t have access to a fraction of this dazzling bounty year round, and you feel severely restricted because you can’t have rice and popcorn? Well in this case, yes I do feel sorry for you! Reply

Anonymous Montreal April 3, 2018

in response to Anonymous:

Arak IS kitniyot, as it contains anise, which is on the prohibited list. Unless it's the one with artificial flavor. Also, some opinions permit liquified kitniyot. Reply

Yehuda Shurpin for Chabad.org May 26, 2016

Re: ban on Kitniyot When discussing what is or isn't Kitniyot, it is important to keep in mind tha many of the different opinions about specific foods, stem from the differences of opnion as to what Kitniyot is. For more on that see Why Aren’t Potatoes Kitniyot?

See also this class titled The Legumes Passover Controversy Reply

Anonymous NY April 24, 2016

Re: ban on Kitniyot I read the article linked below on the history of Kitniyot. So convoluted, it gave me a headache. We're supposed to believe that kitniyot is not chometz and has less stringent requirements to meet. Yet, the reasons for banning kitniyot are all over the road. From actual interaction with true chometz, to it being "soft" chometz, to mistranslations of the actual name (!), to its derivatives bearing no resemblance whatsoever to chometz, to erring on the side of strictness rather than leniency (the wrong way to apply the law). Even an uneven application of the custom (Both corn and peanuts did not exist in Europe at the time of the custom). And various rabbis bend over backwards with twisted logic to try and justify it all, simply to maintain the custom. It makes no sense.

Customs do not, and should not carry the same force as Torah law, because customs vary, while Torah law does not. The strictness of the kitniyot ban borders on the obsessive-compulsive. Reply

Denise Israel April 4, 2017

in response to Anonymous:

I agree! Reply

ace36berkeley California via chabadberkeley.org April 4, 2017

in response to Anonymous:

"And various rabbis bend over backwards with twisted logic to try and justify it all, simply to maintain the custom. It makes no sense."

Further compounding the difficulty for many of deciding what definitely is or is not Kitniyot among borderline foods occurs this very week before Chag HaPesach, when it makes sense that many of our local rabbis are simply much too occupied with Holiday preparations to be able to provide straightforward answers to these questions in a timely fashion.

One could even justifiably maintain that the time-honored exhortation to simply "ask your local rabbi/rov" when clearcut answers [regarding certain types of Kitniyot] are obviously unavailable is something of a cop-out; especially so, given the current time-dependent unavailability of your selfsame "local rabbi/rov". Reply

Rabbi Yehuda Shurpin for chabad.org June 5, 2017

in response to Anonymous:

In general most if not all rabbis are on call and available in the weeks and days leading up to Pesach. That said, since Pesach is not a surprise, consumers can certainly think about this matter ahead of time and receive more thorough responses well in advance.

With regards to the issue of Kitniyot in general, as well as why there are different opinions as to what is included in the category of Kitniyot please see
The History, Rationale and Practice of Avoiding Kitniyos on Passover

and Why Aren’t Potatoes Kitniyot?

Additionally, most major Kashrut organizations have on their websites a list of what is considered Kitniyot. Reply

BurtB California March 14, 2018

in response to Anonymous:

Why is custom important to Jewish observance?

search the chabad.org website for
Why Aren't Customs Reversible? Reply

Howard New York, NY April 22, 2016

we are left with a very difficult question Clearly this remains problematic. We are left with an apparent contradiction between: one, accepting a minhag because of the respect for the decisors themselves - an important halacha of its own; and the codifications and practices of nearly unanimously everyone would agree are higher authorities, from the Rambam to the Shulchan Aruch.

The result are clear problems like Ashkenazim not eating fresh green beans that could never ever have been mistaken for or mixed up with chametz, and the questionable carryover of customs developed in Galut into what were Sephardi-dominated places like Palestine and Colonial America.

As the authority here is itself so important, it might be best to convene authorities to address the apparent conflicts and show why Caro was wrong in the sixteenth century to dismiss the opposing and nascent Ashkenazi minhag.

Chag Kasher v'sameach, everyone.

Very difficult. Reply

Yehuda Shurpin for Chabad.org April 20, 2016

Re: ban on Kitniyot While you may be able to find one or two individual lone dissenters, nowadays traditional ashkenazic Jewery is pretty much unanimous about the ban on kitniyot. Even the sefardic Rabbi Ovadia Yosef held that someone of ashkenazic descent cannot eat kitniyot. For an in-depth halachik discussion about Kitniyot see The History, Rationale and Practice of Avoiding Kitniyos on Passover Reply

Howard NY April 27, 2017

in response to Yehuda Shurpin for Chabad.org:

Rabbi Ovadia's view on the subject is well-known and respected. That said, orthodoxy is indeed no longer fully unanimous on the subject. There is increasing recognition, especially in Israel, that there is an inherent problem importing Eastern European minhag-based rulings (which, in the context of our history, are very recent) to a place where the majority have held otherwise since the time of Hillel and the Beit HaMikdash. Reply

Yosef April 20, 2016

Hemp & Kitnyos How did hemp seeds fall into the prohibition? Reply

Ilana Los angeles April 18, 2016

Pistachios Is it a Chabad friendly nut? Reply

Anonymous NJ April 15, 2016

"This injunction was unanimously accepted by Ashkenazic Jews"

Clearly not true. There is a fair body of literature from the Middle Ages on down to today, with rabbis arguing against banning kitniyot, some even working to get it lifted. Please change this. Reply

Mrs. Chana Benjaminson April 1, 2015

To Vi There are differences of opinion as to whether flax seeds are kitniyot or not, so it's best that you ask your local rabbi Reply

vi April 1, 2015

Is flaxseed ok on pesach? Reply

Anonymous March 27, 2015

Re: false dichotomy between kitniyot and non-kitniot eaters I think the article is just using Ashkenazim and Sefardim as a generalization, but yes, there are other communities as well. Each person should follow their own customs. AS for the reason behind the custom, I would suggest reading the article linked to in the previous comments. (i.e. the article titled The History, Rationale and Practice of Avoiding Kitniyos on Passover). Reply

Howard NY March 24, 2015

Getting back to the issue of Am Echad, One People Assuming Ashkenazim are correct to follow strictly the kitniyot minhag as halacha, what possible justification is there for a store not selling sold certified rice and other kitniyot (hechshered, of course) where Sephardim also shop? I have seen this practice in many if not most kosher supermarkets in the busy days before Pesach.

It would not be difficult for shopowners to segregate such items and allow non-Ashkenazim to do all their shopping in one place.

We have a duty to call out and end the practice of not selling kitniyot immediately, as its negative effects far outweigh any perceived benefits. Reply

Yehuda Shurpin for Chabad.org March 23, 2015

Re: leniency as to consumption of Kitniyot I would note, that while it is true that Kitniyot can become nullified, that only happens es post facto if they got mixed up unintentionally. If you intentionally mix it with non-kitniyot, even before passover, it does not become nullified. For a more in depth discussion of kitiyot see The History, Rationale and Practice of Avoiding Kitniyos on Passover Reply

Anonymous March 18, 2015

false dichotomy between kitniyot and non-kitniot eaters one thing that really bothers me about the kitniyot issue (aside from being inconsistent) is that it brings this false dichotomy between Sepharadi and Ashkenazim. What the jewish community should realize is that you are not either one or the other. That can lead to a false dilemma fallacy (i.e. if you are not Ashkenazi, then you are Sepharadi). what about Ethiopians, Temanim, Romaniote, Persians, Berbers, mountain jews, Bukharians, Italian, and other north African groups. Yes many of these groups follow similar customs to Sephardim, but there are some that are completely different. Furthermore, I think this false minhag should be abolished because it adds more dividers amongst Ashkenazic and non-Ashkenazic communities. Reply

Albert Plainview March 17, 2015

I agree that there is room for leniency as to consumption of Kitniyot, as do many rabbis, here and in Israel. Kitniyot are batel brov. This means that if 51% of the mixture is not kitniyot it is permissible. The kitniyot cannot be recognizable. For example, the bean in a soup is not permissible, but the broth is ok. This applies if mixed before Pesach. This is the Halacha but most Ashkenazim are unaware of this or treat kitniyot as if it were actual hametz. And many rabbis add to the list of prohibited foods by extending the kitniyot list to quinoa, which many kashrut organizations like the ou now permit. What's going on here? Pesach should be a delight and a joyous occasion signifying our freedom. Instead we are focusing on kitniyot which is a rabbinic enactment, a minhag, a custom, not prohibited by the Torah, and not accepted by the Sephardim. I believe when one restricts it does not elevate the joy of the holiday and puts an unnecessary burden of the foods All Jews can enjoy. Reply

Scott Edelman Sayreville March 17, 2015

Let's indeed focus on the many similarities, ..and discuss the differences. Just corn itself makes a huge difference in what Ashkenazim and Sephardim. can consume on Pesach. Since these are rabbinic laws we should be able to be lenient. But we are very strict about it. It goes against being one people with one Law. Reply