The Sale of Chametz

 Each year, we send Sale of Chametz forms for you to return to the synagogue. As Passover begins three weeks from this evening, we want to provide the forms to you and make sure that everyone understands what this Mitzvah is all about, and why it is so important.

You can find the form at this link

Passover is far more than eating matzah, and buying special foods.  We are commanded to literally remove all chametz (leavened products) from our homes.  

As the Book of Devarim (Deuteronomy) commands,

For seven days no leaven shall be found with you in all your territory (16:4)

Once, removing chametz was relatively easy.  Until several generations ago, people rarely kept significant quantities of food in their homes.  Food production was far simpler than it is today.  Yet with improved food technologies, the advent of refrigeration, and modern food production, that has changed.  Most of us have several days, if not several weeks of food in our home. The way that food is produced today, and the complexity of the ingredients within them, ensure that much of this food we enjoy during the year cannot be used for Passover.

Although we are commanded to remove all of these foods from our home, it is virtually impossible to do so. That's what Mechirat Chametz, selling our chametz is about.  After we do our best to search for and remove chametz in our home, we literally sell, that is, we transfer the possession of whatever chametz we are unable to fully remove to someone else so that we are able to fulfill this important and fundamental Passover commandment.

Is it a legal fiction? Perhaps. But does that make it invalid? Certainly not!  Passover, in many ways is the most important holiday.  We want to create the conditions that allow us to fulfill the words of the Passover Haggadah "in every generation, it is incumbent upon us to see ourselves as if we personally came out of the land of Egypt."  Selling your chametz is one of many important ways to help make that happen.  Please download the form, and return it to the synagogue via US mail or email. We look forward to receiving them.

 

 

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