It is customary throughout the world for each person to go to a rav who will arrange to sell his chometz to a non-Jew before Pesach. However, there are differences in halacha and minhag as to what can be included in the sale, among other details. In this issue, we will go through the relevant principles and halachos.
A Non-Jew’s Chometz
If a non-Jew’s chometz is on a Jew’s property and the Jew is not responsible for it, he does not violate bal yeira’eh or bal yimatzei since it does not belong to him (מ''ב סי' ת''מ סק''א ). However, since we eat chometz all year long, there is a concern that the Jew might eat it on Pesach (מ''ב סקי''ג ), so Chazal required one to put up a ten-tefach high partition in front of the chometz to prevent himself from accidentally eating it (שו''ע סי' ת''מ ס''ב ).
Selling chometz to a non-Jew. One may sell chometz to a non-Jew [or to someone who underwent a Reform conversion, who is a non-Jew for all purposes...(see issue 257, para. 17)] if it is done as a proper transaction, even if the Jew will buy the chometz back after Pesach (שו''ע תמ''ח ס''ג ). Some say the chometz may remain in the Jew’s house behind a ten-tefach high partition (חק יעקב סי' תמ''ח ); others are machmir and say that a ten-tefach partition is not enough for chometz sold to a non-Jew, and it must be removed from the Jew’s house (הובא במ''ב שם סקי''ב ).
Keeping chometz in a Jew’s house. When there is a lot of chometz in a Jew’s house, the poskim say he does not need to remove it from his house. He may sell (מ''ב שם ) or rent (מ''ב סקי''ט ) the area with his chometz to a non-Jew and close off the room, making it as if the chometz is outside his house. However, one does not fulfill the mitzva of תשביתו [destroying chometz] by doing this.
One may also put his chometz in a cabinet and close off the cabinet with tape or a cord and indicate with a sticker or the like that it is sold to a non-Jew.
