Rice is nice TB Berachot 37

Today’s daf TB Berachot 37 has great implications concerning what we can eat on Passover.

The Mishna Menachot 70a lists five grains: wheat, barley, kusmin, shibolet shual, and shifon.  These last three are generally translated as spelt, oats, and rye. There are problems with these identifications. According to Dr, Yehudah Felix, an expert in ancient Israel flora and fauna and author of author of “Flora and Fauna in the Talmud” (Hebrew), the five species are: wheat, six-row barley, emmer wheat, two-row barley, and spelt. (For greater detail how and why he came to this conclusion, follow the link to https://library.yctorah.org/2011/05/mesechet-menachot-the-taxonomy-of-the-gemaras-grains/

But what about rice? Is it like the five species of grain and we say hamotzi before eating it and grace after meals afterwards when it’s baked into bread or is it completely different and we recite mezanot before eating it and the bracha achronah afterwards?

Indeed, rice or millet is like a cooked dish, and is not like a cooked dish in every sense. The Gemara elaborates: It is considered like a cooked dish in that one recites a blessing over it both at the beginning and the end. And it is unlike a cooked dish in that over a cooked dish, at the start, one recites: Who creates the various kinds of nourishment, and at the end, one recites one blessing abridged from the three blessings of Grace after Meals; whereas here, over rice, at the start, one recites: By Whose word all things came to be (שֶׁהַכֹּל נִהְיֶה בִּדְבָרוֹ), and at the end, one recites: Who creates the many forms of life and their needs for all that You have created (בּוֹרֵא נְפָשׁוֹת).

The Gemara responds: Whose opinion is reflected in this baraita? It is Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Nuri’s opinion, as it was taught in a baraita: Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Nuri says: Rice is a type of grain in every respect and, therefore, one is liable to death by karet if it leavens on Passover and he eats it intentionally. And a person who ate matza baked from rice flour fulfills his obligation on Passover; however, according to the Rabbis, no, rice is not in the category of a cooked dish. (Sefaria.com translation)

The halacha follows the rabbis and not Rabbi Yohanan ben Nuri. Rice is not like the five other grains and cannot become hametz on Passover. My friend, colleague, and teacher Dr. Rabbi David Golinkin wrote a responsa why the Ashkenazi tradition of refrain from eating legumes (kitniyot) and rice is wrong and they should be permitted on Passover when properly supervised.  When we learn the appropriate daf in messechet Pesachim, I’ll explain his reasoning into greater detail. If you are interested in the meantime either ask your Conservative Rabbi or read Golinkin’s response in Responsa of the Va’ad Halacha of the Rabbinical Assembly of Israel, volume 3, 5748-5749, page ix-x (the English synopsis) or Hebrew page 35-55.