28 Mar PESACH QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: WITH RABBI MOSHE ELEFANT FROM THE OU
What is “chametz sheavar alav haPesach?”
Chametz sheavar alav haPesach is that Chazzal taught us that
if a Jew owns chometz over Pesach, that chometz becomes
prohibited for us to use or benefit from after pesach. So if
you have a store or you are an individual who owns chometz
during Pesach, whether it’s cereal or pasta or any other chometz, we may not eat
that chometz even if we’re paying for it. So even if you go to a store after Pesach and
purchase chometz, if that chometz was under the ownership of a Jew over Pesach it’s
prohibited for us to eat or benefit from it.
Therefore, whenever you go to buy chometz after Pesach, you have to determine who
owned that product during Pesach. If it’s a product that was owned by a Jew, then it’s
a product you shouldn’t use. It is a complicated issue because it’s not just about who
owns the store where you are buying. Most stores do not purchase products directly
from manufacturers even though most manufacturers, certainly the large ones here
and outside of the US, are not Jewish owned. If you know that the product was in
the hands of the manufacturer over Pesach, then you don’t have a problem. What
happens often is that these products are bought by distributors and then sold to the
stores. Many of these distributors are Jewish owned and if the distributor owns the
chometz during Pesach, that adds a new level of concern. So my recommendation is
that you should only buy real chometz for a few weeks after Pesach from a store that
is certainly not Jewish owned and that you can determine has not been purchasing
chometz from Jewish owned food distributors. Or you should buy from a store that
is Jewish owned, sold their chometz, and buys their products from distributors that
also were taking care of the chametz sheavar alav haPesach issue.
I do not eat gebrochts (matzah dipped in water). Should my stringency include refraining from eating matzah with butter as well?
As previously noted, those who avoid gebrochts are con-
cerned that there may be unbaked flour in the matzah.
Nonetheless, the Shulchan Aruch HaRav (Teshuvos 6)
rules that even those who do not eat gebrochts may be
lenient regarding matzah dipped in fruit juice, because
Shulchan Aruch (OC 462:1) rules that fruit juices, a
category which includes milk and butter, do not cause flour to become chometz.
On the other hand, Sama D’chayei (13:6) notes that although fruit juice mixed with
flour will not become chometz, fruit juice mixed with water and flour will become
chometz in an accelerated manner (see OC 462:2). Since matzah is made with water,
some of the water moisture is retained in the matzah even after the baking. As such,
the combination of matzah and fruit juice may accelerate the chometz to occur (if
there is unbaked flour in the matzah). Therefore, Sama D’chayei argues that one who
is stringent regarding gebrochts should not let the matzah come into contact with
fruit juice. The Steipler Gaon concurred with this ruling (Orchos Rabbeinu, vol. 2,
p. 50).
How does one Kasher glassware?
Ashkenazic minhag is that we don’t kasher glass for Pesach.
Does honey need a Kosher for Pesach certification?
Pure, unadulterated honey is fine. Again, there
is plenty of kosher for Pesach honey that I would
recommend but pure, unadulterated honey is
fine.
Do chometz dishes and pots need to be sold for
Pesach?
The dishes and pots don’t need to be sold for pesach. If they were
to sell it, it would only cause more problems because by
selling it, it becomes the property of a non-Jew and you’d
have to Toivel them after Pesach when you buy it back.
What is included in the sale is the chometz that’s absorbed
into the pots.
My house is usually completely chametz free the week before Pesach. May I use egg matzah on Shabbos for Lechem Mishneh, what bracha is recited and how much must I eat?
To respond to this question we must first ex-
plain the concept of kevias seudah (literally,
established as a meal).
As explained in a previous Halacha Yomis, egg
matzah and crackers are in the category of pas
haboh bikisnin (bread that is eaten as a snack),
and the bracha is Mezonos. As the term pas
(bread) haboh bikisnin (used as a snack) im-
plies, crackers are inherently a type of bread
(pas), but the bracha is reduced to mezonos because they are used as a
snack. It follows that if pas haboh bikisnin is consumed as a staple item
in the meal, the bracha is elevated to Hamotzi.
Under what circumstances do we view pas habo bikisnin as a staple and
not as a snack, such that Hamotzi will be recited? The Talmud informs us
that when pas haboh bikisnin is used for “kevias seuda” (an established
meal), the bracha is Hamotzi. But how do we define kevias seuda?
One way is to eat a large volume, a full meal of pas haboh bikisnin. The
Magen Avrohom (168:130) writes there is second way to establish kevias
seuda, and that is by eating an amount of pas haboh bikisnin together
with other elements of a meal (such as fish, meat, potatoes etc.) that is
equivalent to the amount normally consumed at a full satiating meal.
According to Rav Belsky, zt”l, one typically eats two slices of bread at
a normal meal. Therefore, if one eats 2 egg matzos together with other
foods, there is kevias seuda and Hamotzi is recited.
This presentation applies to a weekday meal. In the next Halacha Yomis
we will show that the rules of kevias seudah are somewhat different for
Shabbos.