SC - OOP - "White List" question

[Jenne Heise]

Not bad, a few minor corrections to your replies to Stefan, Elaine:

> Huh? I can understand why you might not be allowed
> to eat something, but
> why would having butter on the table, if it is not
> eaten by the Jew be a problem for them?

*I* don't think it is a problem, but for some people, just having the items
on the same table means that they could accidentally get on the same plate,
or worse yet, be eaten together.  Horrors!  So it's easier to maintain the
complete separation than risk a sin.

> And, to me, this seems to conflict with the idea
> that you can have
> someone else turn on the lights, so long as you
> don't flip the switch.
> If it's okay to be present, even cause the switch to
> be flipped by
> allowing someone else flip the switch, why is it not
> okay to have butter
> on the table if you don't partake of it?

E>   The restriction against fat maybe?

Not at all.  Just read any traditional Jewish cookbook!

You can enjoy having light.  Just as you can eat on Shabbat, even though you
cannot cook (this is why cholent and other long-cooking recipes are popular,
and in the modern era, crockpots).  You cannot do the act of work, but you
can have enjoy the result.  So instead of leaving the lights burning all the
time, your Shabbos Goy turns them on and off, lights the stove, etc.

> What is "chametz"? And if you don't eat it, or lick
> your fingers or
> some such, why can't you prepare it?

E>  Chametz is nothing more than levening,whitch is
 E>  nothing more than yeast,baking soda,baking powder,
E>   and who knows what else.

For Pesach, it is also anything made with leavening -- bread crumbs, cereal,
etc.

It is ALSO anything that COULD BE leavened by natural means, so even regular
flour is a problem.  (Note that the menu has no tartes, even though the
crusts would not be leavened with the items Elaine named, because of the
flour.  You cannot eat regular noodles, you have to eat ones made of special
flours or potato starch.)

Stefan, the answer is contamination.  People have to clean their houses VERY
thoroughly before Pesach and dispose of all chametz.  This is why Selene
mentioned heating the grill very hot; burning destroys the chametz.  In
highly religious homes, people may even wrap the stove and other appliances
in foil as protection.  If you bring it in, you have contaminated the house,
and yourselves, and your house is no longer Pesach-Kosher, and neither are
you.

> Okay, without getting into a bunch of religous
> detail, what does this
> mother stuff have to do with passover or Jewish food
> restrictions?

Doesn't.  But we are in Lent right now (no, Elaine, it is not merely a week,
but the 40 days since Ash Wednesday, until Easter) so I was trying to give
both groups a meal they could eat while being properly observant.  That is
why the menu is divided into LENTEN and PASSOVER dishes (they appear MUCH
more clearly on the event's website at
http://northern.ansteorra.org/warlord/feast.html ).  It is the Lenten dishes
that cannot have anything with a mother, etc., in them -- no meat, no dairy,
no eggs.  Just veggies and fruits.  That's why you see all the meat dishes
on the Passover side of the menu.

                                            ---= Morgan

===============================================
Q. What's the difference between a bagpipe and an onion?
A. No one cries when you chop up a bagpipe.