[Sca-cooks] Okay, so this is vaguely food-related...

[Tara Sersen Boroson]

>>Just out of curiosity, is there a provision for celiac Jews at
>>Passover, or is it okay if you simply eat no bread at all, leavened
>>or otherwise?
>>
>>Adamantius
>>    
>>
>
>Judaism allows for variations due to illness. I would expect 
>something like this to qualify.
>

I asked a friend that question once.  He has relatives who are 
Lubovitch, which is an ultra-observant sect.  From what he said, the 
most strictly observant of them will recognise no exceptions - you'll 
get old men and pregnant women passing out from fasting, elderly people 
refusing to take medications because they aren't kosher, people who 
don't take their medications on shabot because they forgot to leave the 
bottles open and so on; So, I would assume that such people would also 
refuse to recognise the need to avoid matzoh.  However, they are in the 
minority, and the vast majority of Jews are very lenient toward people 
with medical needs.  Makes a lot of sense, for the same reason so many 
Jews are in the medical field - religion compels them to be concerned 
for the physical welfare of others.  There are even codified exceptions 
to the shabot restrictions on work for taking care of farm animals and 
the infirm.  That last, taking care of the infirm, is the one that makes 
me wonder why some of them will do things like fasting or *not* taking 
medications.

The Catholic church, OTOH, has refused to formulate a gluten-free 
communion wafer for celiac patients.  One friend's mother hasn't been 
able to take communion in years - she's so sensitive that if a 
restaurant picks croutons out of her salad instead of making her a fresh 
one that never touched a crouton, she'll be literally in bed for days.

-Magdalena

-- 
Tara Sersen Boroson

Mom-asté: the mother in me recognizes and honors the mother in you.