<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Just some comments on some information posted yesterday regarding
kosher-for-passover items:

> From:    Betsey Carus <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Basic information concerning Kosher for Passover products
>
> During Passover the only starches (besides the ones listed above that
> are gluten) seem to be tapioca starch and potato starch. Corn and rice
> flour are not used in any prepared food products that I have found in
> the past 10+ years. So if a KFP product lists modified food starch don't
> worry it is NOT made from wheat.

In Christian Europe, there were problems with contamination of corn flour
with wheat flour (I don't remember whether this was intentional
contamination by non-Jews, accidental cross-contamination, or just people
getting confused and making a mistake) and so the Rabbis in Europe banned
the consumption (but not ownership) of corn, rice and a number of other
grains.

These problems did not occur in areas controlled by Moslems, so the Rabbis
there did not ban these foods.

Most of the Jews in America come from Europe, and so all items certified
kosher-for-passover by American Rabbis will not include corn, rice, etc.
(this group of substances is called 'kitniyot').  *However*, the same is
not true for Israel, where a substantial number of Sephardi Jews live.
Kitniyot is very common in products from Israel.  You *must* read the
label to determine if it contains kitniyot.  (Besides the ingredients
being a tipoff, the label will usually read 'kosher for passover for those
who eat kitniyot' -- unfortunately, the latter warning is often only in
Hebrew.)

> From:    Katherine Morrison <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Kosher for Passover....also gluten free matzah?
>
> I know where you can get the oat matzah if anyone's going that route....I
> won't be, but some may choose to.  LMK if you need the ordering info.
>
> Does anyone know if there's *any* such thing as gluten free matzah?  I don't
> think there is as I've checked with all kids of people, purveyors, rabbinical
> authorities, etc, but I'd be interested to hear if any of you have run across
> such a creature:)

Note:  I am not a rabbi.  This is not a psak.

Matzah (the torah also calls it 'lechem oni' or 'poor man's bread') *must*
be legally bread in order to recite the appropriate brachot over it. Bread
must include flour from one of the five grains that celiacs are advised to
avoid.  Matzah, suitable for use at the seder, must consist solely of
flour and water.

Thus by definition, if you don't eat wheat, barley, rye, spelt, or oats,
then you cannot eat 'matzah'. If you acquire pesadiche rice flour and make
your own crackers, then you would say neither the 'al achilat matzah' nor
the 'hamotzi lechem min ha-aretz' brochot, but would instead say a 'borei
minei mezonot'.  If you made crackers from some other pesadiche flour,
then you would say a 'shehakhol niheyeh bidvoro'.

Needless to say, making crackers from a non-pesadiche flour is problematic
-- what is the point?  (Note to non-Jewish readers:  Wheat destined for
use at the seder is guarded from the time that it is reaped (wheat
intended for use the rest of passover is guarded from the time that it is
milled) to ensure that no water comes in contact with the grains.  Within
18 minutes of contact of the flour and water, it must be baked to ensure
that there is a *zero* percent chance of leavening with airborne yeast.
Manufacturing lines that touch wheat/barley/etc during the year are
thoroughly disassembled, scrubbed and (if it will survive) heated to the
point that any organic material would be carbonized.  We are very thorough
in ensuring that we fulfill the requirement that 'no leavened food be
found in our homes'.  Non-pesadiche rice flour *might* have been milled,
transported in a vehicle, stored, etc. on a piece of equipment that once
carried wheat flour, without the cleaning that I mentioned above.  Since
we can't be certain, why take the risk?  This isn't a matter of knowing
that below some threshold no serious damage arises, but rather attempting
to fulfill to the best of our abilities the elimination of all chometz.)

Steve Friedman