The other "aish ha-Torah"

28 March 2007

I know that the Chumra of the Month club always works overtime around Passover, but this just goes too far. According to the Jerusalem Post, some rabbis are considering treating marijuana as kitniyot. Israel’s Green Leaf party, which ran on a pro-pot-legalization platform, is advising its frum members to put away their stashes for the holiday.

Is there really a concern that people might mistake marijuana leaves (or even seeds) for chametz grains? Is it customary to grow or store marijuana in places where it might get mixed with chametz? And even if marijuana were classified as kitniyot—I thought the kitniyot ban applied to eating, but not to other forms of benefit. So smoking kitniyot should be OK, right? (At least, inasmuch as smoking anything is OK, what with the health risks and all. Not to mention that whole dina d’malchutna dina issue.)

I hope that our rabbi will devote some time on Shabbat ha-Gadol to expound on these matters. I will donate some brownies for the kiddush.

• Later: Lack o’ the Irish
• Earlier: He also told the NAACP that he was a great dancer