alexist

It all started with an ill-timed nap on Wednesday. At some point that night I decided if I went to bed I'd never get up. This turned out to be a poor decision.

After volunteering, I went up to Edgware to do some errands. (Choice of destination based on bus routes.) The butcher was out of chicken thighs (!!!!) I was unable to re-plan dinner and didn't wish to go find another butcher. So I said "oh to hell with it" and headed to the station, thinking I'd meet Neil (who was off in a meeting on Pall Mall).

At TCR, I realised I was not actually capable of eating and decided to go home, figuring I'd text Neil and tell him to get something. No High Barnet trains were listed so I got on a Mill Hill East one.

I fell asleep by Warren Street and woke up to "the next station is Mill Hill East". (Damn me for being used to ignoring Finchley Central.) At which point I also discovered, via text, that Neil had been home for ages anyway. DOH!

Back to Finchley Central, saw High Barnet train depart as I was crossing the bridge over the platform, had to wait 8 mins for next train :/ Got home and went straight to bed without any dinner. I woke up at 9:00. That's AM.

Every year, this gets worse and worse. OK, on Pesach, European Jews have a custom not to eat legumes, seeds, and rice (called kitniyot) for various reasons. (Everyone refrains from using products made from the 5 species of grain. Properly speaking, you can't eat them, own them, or benefit from them. You can own and benefit from kitniyot, though--e.g. feed them to the dog.)

There are 2 questions about this rule:
1) whether it applies to things that weren't used at the time of the decree, such as peanuts.
2) whether it applies to products of kitniyot, such as oils.

Because of the "double doubt", things like peanut oil used to be very common on Pesach. Now they're not, which tends to lead to discussions about the "chumra [stringency] police". (Interestingly, the London Beit Din approves sunflower oil, even though you can't eat sunflower seeds. It's the only flavorless oil you can get here for Pesach. In the US we always used Hollywood safflower oil, which appears to be OK to most people, but they don't sell it here.)

Now I've heard that in Israel some rabbis don't permit canola or cottonseed oil--even though canola and cottonseed are not edible in their raw state! And this is totally separate from those Chassidic groups which have their own restrictive customs.

My house is not perfectly Pesachdik (which involves a lot of boiling water and a blow torch) but I do avoid using forbidden products (within reason: I use non-Pesachdik toothpaste). This year I will attempt to NOT go nuts by the 5th day and sneak bread/pasta/rice because my stomach/intestines can't stand another potato or piece of matza. Last year I completely cheated because I was visiting my parents and my mother is so irreligious she served noodle kugel at the Seder. Dairy noodle kugel, with roast beef. I dread the day I host my own seder as I'll have to be a killjoy and tell my mother she has to behave instead of whispering at everyone else. And that yes, we're doing the part after the meal that my family always skips except for "Next year in Jerusalem" and "Chad Gadya".

And with that I shall go put my hat and shoes on and walk across the street to synagogue for Kabbalat Shabbat :)