After Significant Price Hike, Rabbi Aviner Says: Don’t Buy Hamantaschen This Year

 

Rabbi Shlomo Chaim Aviner, the rabbi of Beit El and head of the Ateret Kohanim yeshiva has called on Israelis not to eat hamantaschen this year, in the wake of a significant hike in their price in Israel. Rabbi Aviner wrote that : a) there is no source for eating hamantaschen b) they are unhealthy c) the price has risen steeply.

Regarding the source for hamantaschen, Rabbi Aviner writes that there is no early source for such a custom and even though all kinds of explanations were given for the custom they cannot establish the custom. The actual source for the term has nothing to do with Haman’s ears but rather because a stuffed pastry which contains poppyseed is known in German as “mohntaschen” which became confused with hamantaschen.

Moreover the pastry is unhealthy and contains large amounts of sugar, oil and caloric content. Rabbi Aviner cites the Rambam (Hilchos Deos 4) who states that a person should eat healthy food as this is Hashem’s will. He adds that “one hamantaschen will not cause damage but we eat enough unhealthy food all year and there is no reason to add more out of belief that there is some holy custom attached to it.”

As for the prices, in Israel a kilo of hamantaschen used to cost between 30-50 NIS but currently the price has reached 140 NIS in some stores. Rabbi Aviner cites the Mishna Berura (Orach Chayim 242) who says that “if the fishmongers are hiking the prices, it is correct to make a ruling not to buy fish for a few weeks until the price returns to normal.” Thus there is a basis for not purchasing even a religiously required food like fish for shabbos if the price has risen beyond the means of average people and certainly hamantaschen can be boycotted if their price rises so steeply.