Taking talmudicization to new, ahem, heights, Israelis are conducting a debate about whether hemp—and thus by extension its cousin marijuana—is kosher for Passover:
Hemp has increasingly been spotted on the list of kitniyot, or legumes, that Ashkenazi Jews abstain from eating during Pessah, according to several influential rabbinical Web sites, including kashrut.com. But not everyone agrees that hemp qualifies for the ban, and the debate has led many to question the definition of kitniyot.
While hemp isn’t a kitchen staple for most people, hemp oil can be found in a number of hygiene products and in some alternative baked goods. But it’s hemp’s more notorious cousin, commonly known as marijuana, that has set the sparks flying. As debate over the kitniyot tradition has gathered steam among rabbinic circles, many are looking at hemp as a case in point of why the practice of abstention needs to be reexamined.
Israel’s Green Leaf Party (which urges legalization of cannabis because it’s mentioned in the Bible [!]) is telling its members to hold off on consumption until the debate is settled.
Dude! How long do you expect us to wait?
