To sums things up, I personally feel that all these talk about kitniyot has separated us from what's really important about Pesach. The real reason we celebrate Pesach is because we are no longer slaves in Egypt. We celebrate this Chag because Hashem himself kept his promise to our forefathers Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. and took us out of Egypt. From slavery to freedom, from darkness to light and from bitterness to happiness. "VeSamachta BeChagecha" (You shall rejoice in your holiday). This is what Pesach is all about. If people wish to eat Kitniyot on Pesach, they can. Just like YOU can refrain from eating kitniyot. Why make trouble? and Maskil, being removed from public life is an actual threat. "Life = living or to live" (look it up, its in the dictionary). You should be a bit more careful with the words you choose. Everybody is entitled to have and listen to their Rav. If your rav tells you that you cannot eat kitniyot and you respect his words, you will do as he says. I respect my rav greatly, just as I respect other rabbis. If you look inside the Talmud, in almost every page rabbis argued with one another. There are 70 "Panim L'Torah" (ways of explaining/understanding the Torah), and each rav with his explanation is respected among the Tanaim and Amoraim. Beis Hillel and Beis Shamai did not always see eye to eye, however, they respected one another, and never did one say to the other: "He should be removed from public life"... A penny for your thought ;-) Enjoy the rest of the Chag. Kol Tuv, Isaac Simchon

Maskil, you wrote: "(But a carte blanche elimination of the prohibition is not in the power of this "rabbi" or anyone today - not even R' Elyashiv, but only the Sanhedrin itself.)" You do realize you have contradicted yourself... About 700 years ago, the Ramma and his colleagues ruled against eating kitniyot on Pesach. What gave them the right to make such an extreme ruling WHEN THERE WAS NO SANHEDRIN IN ASHKENAZ (Germany, France, Russia, etc)??? Also, from where do we learn that their ruling was infinite? What if they ruled against kitniyot temporary, until better (food) quality control was available...? I happen to be a Talmid of Rav Bar-Hayim, and that made a positive impact in my Jewish life. You dare say - and I quote: "(choteh u'machati et ha-rabim, he himself transgresses through preaching erroneous explanations of Torah and causes the public to sin by presuming an authority he does not have and actively pursuing a public campaign of dismantling the infrastructure of Jewish law.)" I disagree. Rav Bar-Hayim teaches the Torah like it is. He encourage people to ASK QUESTIONS and not just accept what some other "bogus" rabbis say... We cannot follow a (questionable) ruling blindly just because a Rabbi says you have to. WE HAVE TO ASK QUESTIONS, AND RECEIVE SATISFYING ANSWERS. If a rabbi answers your question but his answer isn't satisfactory, you don't have to listen to him. And I don't mean halachic ruling given by Hazal/Sanhedrin - like "Why in Chutz La'Aretz (outside the land of Israel) we celebrate 2 days instead on one?...and etc."