3. Mechiras Chametz when Erev Pesach on Shabbos:^[1]

When Erev Pesach on Shabbos, the sale transaction with the gentile is preceded to Erev Shabbos the 13^th.^[2] This creates the following dilemma; what is the status of all the Chametz food that will be eaten from the time the sale takes place on Friday, until Shabbos morning when the actual owning of Chametz prohibition begins. Who owns this Chametz? If it is owned by the Jew, this means that any leftover Chametz from the time of the sale and onwards must be destroyed or removed from one’s home into a public for all area and may not be placed in the closets or rooms that have been sold to the Gentile. On the other hand, if it is included in the sale that has taken place on Friday, then how can one eat from this Chametz after the sale? How can he fulfill the Shabbos meals with bread that now officially belongs to the Gentile? It is due to this dilemma that the Poskim differ as to the proper way of doing the sale in such years. The following are the various methods:

1. Some Rabbanim are accustomed to do the sale before midday/6^th hour of Erev Shabbos and have it take effect right before the start of Shabbos begins.^[3] Amongst those who do it this way some explicitly exclude from the contract any Chametz that is set aside to be eaten for the Shabbos meal. This means that this Chametz belongs to the Jew and hence any leftovers that are left on Shabbos, must be destroyed, such as to be thrown in the toilet, or thrown in a public for all area [if there is an Eruv] prior to the start of the sixth hour on Shabbos. If any of these leftovers are suddenly discovered over Pesach, then it must be burnt on Chol Hamoed.
2. Others[4], however, are accustomed to include all of the Chametz in the sale to the Gentile, and hence none of the leftover Chametz from the Shabbos meals belong to the Jew and needs to be discarded prior to the start of the sixth hour on Shabbos. Rather, it suffices to simply place it in the area that has been designated as sold to the Gentile. Nevertheless, even according to this approach, we retain permission to eat the Shabbos Chametz that has officially been sold to the Gentile, as the contract explicitly states that the Gentile gives permission for anyone who wants to take from and eat the Chametz, and that this will be calculated into the sale that takes place after Pesach. The advantage of this method is that all of one’s Chametz is considered sold to the Gentile, although it ends up that one is eating Chametz of a Gentile on Shabbos. This however contains no halachic meaning or ramification.
3. Other Rabbanim perform the sale anytime on Erev Shabbos and have it only take effect on Shabbos after the 5^th[5] The advantage of this method is that it includes all of the Shabbos Chametz in the sale, and all of the Shabbos Chametz remains in the ownership of the Jew until the sale takes effect on Shabbos, and hence he is eating from his own Chametz. The glaring disadvantage of this approach however is the fact that the business deal is taking place on Shabbos which is a seeming Shabbos violation. The defense for this method is that it is only viewed as a Shabbos violation if the acquisitions take place on Shabbos, however if the acquisitions take place before Shabbos then there is no problem for the transaction of ownership to fall on Shabbos. This matter is indeed debated amongst the Poskim.

Final Conclusion: Every Rav who is involved in the sale should publicize to those who do the sale through him, which method he is using this year, so they know what to do with the leftover Chametz on Shabbos. Likewise, every individual should ask the Rav as to whether or not his sale includes the Shabbos Chametz, and as to what should be done with the Shabbos Chametz leftovers. However, as a personal suggestion, I would recommend using the second method above which sells all of the Chametz before Pesach and simply has an inclusion into the contract that the Gentile allows one to use it.

A Maaseh Shehaya

In the year 2008, Erev Pesach fell on Shabbos just like this year. At that time I served as a chaplain in the IDF and spent much of that week assisting soldiers , officers, and commanders in selling their Chametz. Unfortunately, due to a slip in my memory I had forgotten to arrange a sale for one of my closest Mekuravim on the base who I know would be home with his parents for Pesach, and only remembered as I was driving to Jerusalem late Friday afternoon. In normal years, it is too late to do the sale, however in years such as these, although the sale transaction usually takes place earlier in the day, the transfer of ownership is delayed either until the start of Shabbos or even Shabbos days as explained above, and many rabbis explicitly write in the document that even late power of attorney signatures is acceptable. So I immediately got on the phone to arrange with a rabbi to accept this families power of attorney signature and have it sent to the Gentile by fax. I then immediately called my Mekurav and hurriedly told him that I forgot to sell his Chametz to the rabbi as is accustomed but I just remembered and I arranged for it to be done right now and that he she quickly ask his parents permission to sell their Chametz. At first, he responded that he doesn’t own any Chametz as he got rid of it all that morning, [not understanding the ramification of what he was saying, he added that] all he has is a number of bags of flour and pasta and cans of beer that have all been stored below in a closet in the basement. I immediately told them that that this is also Chametz and needs to be sold. So being an innocent Jew who wants to do the right thing he went to speak to his parents and they agreed to sign on the document and gave me their address for me to write it in. However, due to lack of time, and thinking that everyone knows the obvious of how the sale of Chametz works I did not bother mentioning to him any of the details of the sale and how it would take place. I simply collected his name, his parents name, and their address and sent it to the Rav who was eagerly waiting to fax it to the Gentile. After approximately an hour after this event the Mekurav calls me and asks me when the rabbi would be coming to pick up the sold Chametz. Taken aback by the question I explained to him that the Chametz can remain in his closet in the basement and that the rabbi is not actually coming to pick it up as it is a virtual sale. He then asked me “so you mean I should bring it all back down, we brought all of the Chametz that was in the closet upstairs and outside to our front yard and we been waiting for 20 minutes for the rabbi to come and pick it up.” I felt so embarrassed not having explained to him properly how the sale would work, but also felt the great innocence of simple Jews talked about by the Baal Shem Tov. I apologized to him for the misunderstanding and told him to bring all of the Chametz back downstairs to the closet where it was originally. He then concluded with one last question, “Rabbi, if you can just explain to me one more thing, why is it okay for the rabbi to own our Chametz over Pesach but not us!”

The lesson learned: Never underestimate the purity and innocence of a simple Jew, and if only the scholar would one day reach this level of Temimus, and also, please explain what you are doing when you sell someone’s Chametz by having them sign on the document of power of attorney.

[1] See Shoel Umeishiv 6:50, 55; Maharam Shick O.C. 131 and 205; Maharshag 2:117; Toras Chesed 1:13; Arugas Habosem 1:103; Daas Torah 444:1-2; Levushei Mordechai Kama 75; Machaneh Chaim 3:22; Minchas Elazar 3:26; Imrei Yosher 1:146; Sdei Chemed 9:35; Har Tzevi 126; Zichron Yehuda 1:115; Poskim in Piskeiy Teshuvos 444:17; Nitei Gavriel Pesach Shechal Bierev Shabbos 5

[2] Admur 448:16

[3] Maharam Shick 205; Arugas Habosem ibid; Daas Torah ibid; 1^st option in Piskeiy Teshuvos ibid

The reason: The problem with having the sale take effect by midday is that there are still storeowners who are selling Chametz after midday. The reason they arrange for the sale to take effect before Shabbos is because a sale may not be done on Shabbos.

[4] Badatz Eida Hachareidis, brought in Kaneh Bosem p. 159 footnote 8

[5] See Toras Chesed ibid; Shoel Umeishiv ibid; Maharam Shick 131; Daas Torah ibid; Machaneh Chaim ibid;

The reason: As many Poskim rule there is no prohibition against making the sale take place on Shabbos if all the transactions took place beforehand. [See Poskim ibid]