REGARDING THE MINHAG: There is no problem regarding eating rice on Pesach. The Gemara Pesachim tells us that in the time of the Gemara one of the foods out of the two foods that we are supposed to eat on Pesach was rice. It was 200-300 years ago when the problem about eating rice on Pesach occurred. When the rice fields where placed near the wheat fields. They use to use the same sacks for the wheat as they used to package the rice. So it was very common that they had some wheat fall in the rice because the sacks weren’t fully cleaned after each use. Hence, it was possible to find wheat and rice together, so the Sephardic people todays days have a Minhag to clean out the rice three times before using it in order to make sure that there is no slight chance that they would find flour and rice together.
STORY:
There is a story about the Peri Chadash who was a Sephardic Jew, who followed the Minhag to eat rice on Pesach, which was unlike the Ashkenazim. He lived in a country where they would never have such a problem of wheat becoming mixed up with rice. On one of the nights of Pesach, he saw a big fat wheat kernel that opened up right on top of his rice. Because of this story, the Peri Chadash took upon himself that he would not eat rice on Pesach. However, Sephardic people have a Minhag to eat rice on Pesach. They clean the rice three times before using it, by sifting the rice thoroughly with a white cloth in order to make the dark pieces of wheat visible to find, and remove any wheat kernels that are found. It is still possible today to find some wheat mixed in. In that situation the elders of the Sephardic people check the rice because we can’t trust miners with this important issue, and in that case we sure can’t trust maids. The age for checking rice starts from when the child is fully developed and knows what they are looking for. So you must have girls that are over twelve years old or boys over thirteen that are responsible that will check the rice correctly. It’s preferable not to check three times in a row, because you get tired by the third time, and you might not do a good job checking.
REGARDING WHICH RICE TO USE: In the case of which brands of rice to use for Pesach; Carolina rice is kosher for Pesach just like it was kosher every year. So you don’t have to buy special rice. Regular rice that you eat all year around that is kosher; it is also kosher for Pesach. The Ashkenazim are different than the Sephardic people; they must follow their Minhag which it is forbidden for them to eat rice on Pesach in all situations. But in a case of a Sephardic man that is married to an Ashkenazi woman, the lady must follow her
