Checking, Selling, Burning and Nullifying Chometz - Rabbi Naftali Vaknin shlita

00:02 Speaker 1 You’re listening to “Lema’an Yishme’u,” a podcast from Machon Halacha Chabad.

00:09 Speaker 2 In the month of Nissan, as we prepare for Pesach, we face one of the Torah’s most stringent prohibitions. Eating chametz and deriving benefit from it are among the most severe prohibitions in the Torah, for several reasons. First, both eating it and deriving benefit from it are forbidden. Not only may we not eat chametz; we may not benefit from it, sell it, or do anything with it on Pesach. What’s more, even someone who neither eats nor benefits from chametz, but merely keeps it in their possession, violates three Torah commandments at every moment: the prohibitions against chametz being seen or found anywhere in their possession, and the positive commandment to remove leaven from their homes. So, to avoid all these prohibitions, we have four safeguards. The Radbaz explains why the Torah is stricter about chametz on Pesach than about other prohibitions. What is so distinctive about it? He gives a wonderful explanation: chametz alludes to the yetzer hara, which is called “the leaven in the dough.” We must not give the yetzer hara even the slightest opening or foothold within us, because the moment we do, it feels right at home. So we must be very careful not to bring any chametz or leaven into our bodies, and of course, on Pesach we must avoid all the prohibitions concerning chametz. There’s a story about Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch of Lizhensk. He said that every year before Pesach, rabbis prepare an enormous Shabbos Hagadol sermon and work hard to find answers to all sorts of difficult questions. “My Shabbos Hagadol sermon,” he said, “goes like this: On the one hand, I found in the Rambam the mitzvah, ‘In the evening you shall eat matzos.’ On the other hand, the Rambam also gives the prohibition, ‘Do not steal.’ That seems to be a contradiction. What is someone with nothing to eat supposed to do if he wants to fulfill what it says—

02:41 Speaker 2 “‘In the evening you shall eat matzos’? If he doesn’t steal, he won’t have any. But I’ve found the most wonderful answer: I distribute everything the poor need for the Seder night. Once they have everything they need for the Seder, they don’t need to steal.” Now let’s begin with the safeguards we put in place before Pesach so that, G-d forbid, we don’t violate the prohibitions against chametz on Pesach. We have the search for chametz and the nullification of chametz. Everyone knows about the search: on the night before Pesach, we search for chametz by candlelight, checking that none remains anywhere, in any corner—not even a crumb. We dispose of the chametz, and after the search we nullify it in our hearts. We say, “Any leaven or chametz in my possession that I have not seen and have not disposed of shall be nullified and become like the dust of the earth.” Why do we need both steps—the search for chametz and its nullification? Because if a person only nullifies it, our Sages say that nullification depends primarily on removing the chametz from one’s heart. The Talmud says that there are two things that are not a person’s property, yet the Torah treats them as such so that the person can be held liable for them. One is chametz on Pesach; the other is a pit in a public domain. Even though the pit is not theirs—it’s in a public domain—the Torah treats it as theirs so that they are liable to pay if someone falls into it. The Torah also treats chametz on Pesach as theirs. How do they remove it from their possession? By removing it from their heart, declaring it ownerless. So the Sages were concerned that sometimes a person might not truly remove it from their heart—say they have an entire container of

04:47 Speaker 2 valuable items, and they begin reciting the nullification, but are really counting on taking them back after Pesach. They wouldn’t nullify the chametz wholeheartedly. So the Sages instituted the search. But perhaps we could just do the search and dispense with nullification? We could search thoroughly, as required, and if a few crumbs remain, the prohibitions against chametz being seen or found don’t apply to those crumbs. Why not rely on the search alone? The Sages were concerned about something else: a person might search but fail to dispose of some chametz. In the middle of Pesach, they might suddenly find a wonderful stash of chametz—something they really love—and become excited about it. At that moment, even before they burn it or do what needs to be done, they violate the prohibition against chametz being seen or found, because they have welcomed it back into their heart. So, as two safeguards, the Sages instituted both a proper search, according to halacha, on the night before Pesach, and the nullification known as kol chamira vachamia. Now, pay attention: we recite this formula twice—at night, when we finish searching for chametz, and again in the morning, when we dispose of it. Anyone who doesn’t understand the words should know that kol chamira is not some incantation against the evil eye. It’s a real declaration that removes the chametz from your heart, and you need to understand what you’re saying. At night we nullify only the chametz “that I have not seen and have not disposed of.” I can’t nullify the chametz I still want to eat tomorrow. Otherwise, tomorrow I’d either be eating dust, or I’d be undoing my nullification by treating the chametz as important again and eating it. So what am I nullifying? All the chametz that has escaped my notice—anything hidden behind a cupboard or somewhere else. I nullify it wholeheartedly, but not the chametz I’ve set aside to eat tomorrow.

06:49 Speaker 2 But after disposing of and burning the chametz—the third safeguard—I burn whatever chametz remains from what I ate in the morning. In keeping with the practice ordained by the Sages according to Rabbi Yehudah’s opinion, we dispose of it by burning it. That is the custom. Once I’m sure the chametz has burned, I recite the additional kol chamira formula, saying, “Whether I have seen it or have not seen it, whether I have disposed of it or have not disposed of it.” All the chametz—what I burned and what I didn’t burn, what I disposed of and what I didn’t dispose of—shall be ownerless and like the dust of the earth. That, then, is the third safeguard. The fourth is the sale of chametz. Although we arrange the sale before taking the previous steps, the sale itself does not take place then. We only authorize the rabbi to carry it out. The rabbi sells the chametz to a non-Jew shortly before midday, after which it can no longer be sold. This sale is not, G-d forbid, a mere legal trick or a pretend sale. It is a genuine sale. We must take it seriously and sell the chametz as we would in any other sale. There is a principle that movable items can be acquired along with land or something fixed to the land, such as a house or a cabinet attached to the floor. So we rent the non-Jew the place where the chametz is kept. That is what the contract says.

09:06 Speaker 2 The rental. When we rent this space to a non-Jew, we also sell him all the chametz we place there along with the space. So we need to make sure the chametz isn’t scattered throughout the house while we say, “I sold the chametz.” Rather, it should be kept in one or two designated places used only for chametz. That way, we can remove and dispose of all the chametz in our possession. I want to tell you a story about selling chametz that illustrates what it means to make the sale wholeheartedly. There was a rabbi in Tunisia named Rabbi Chaim Ben Ayish. He had a grocery store and a non-Jewish employee. He would always sell the chametz to a non-Jew, and he trusted his employee completely. One day, some Jews came to him and said, “Listen, your employee is opening the store and selling the groceries.” He couldn’t believe it, so he went to see for himself. He saw it, but he didn’t say a word. If he asked the employee why he was selling, he would be showing that he hadn’t truly meant to make the sale. So he kept quiet, went home, and let it pass. After the holiday, the non-Jew came to him and handed him all the money from the sales he had made during the holiday. He said, “Honored Rabbi, I wanted to test you to see whether you had made the sale wholeheartedly. Now I’ve seen that you did. Take all the money from what I sold during the holiday. It’s yours.” This shows that the sale must be made wholeheartedly, without second thoughts or reservations. Who sells their chametz? People who have things of great value that they want to keep for after Pesach. Someone has very expensive liquor.

11:25 Speaker 2 Or he has products that he’ll need immediately after Pesach. So he sells the chametz. That’s why the sale must be done properly, through a qualified rabbi, with a signature and everything else required. Of course, if necessary—if there’s no other option or someone is stuck—it can also be done by phone, online, or through other digital means. I just want to wish all of us that, with Hashem’s help, this year we merit to celebrate Pesach as prescribed by halachah in the third Beis Hamikdash, and to offer the Pesach sacrifice as prescribed. Amen and amen.