The night before Erev Pessach, the night between the days of the 13th and 14th of Nissan, we make the search for Chometz. (The whole house will already be thoroughly cleaned so that this search can be made easier.) This search has to be made immediately as night sets in: it is forbidden to do anything else (even to eat supper) until the search has been made, and even to only start any job of work is not allowed within the half-hour before nightfall lest one becomes pre-occupied and forgets to make the search when night falls. The search is made by the light of a single candle, and since the aim of the search is to ensure that there is no Chometz anywhere (and to destroy later any that might be found) one is therefore obliged to look anywhere and everywhere, in all nooks and crannies, where there could, even by the remotest chance, be some Chometz.
If one does find any Chometz, it should be kept carefully until the next morning, to be burned. Some people have the custom that the lady of the house hides some pieces of bread for the master of the house to find in his search — but care must be taken to keep account of all the pieces. These pieces, too, when found, should be carefully put away until the next morning, when they are burned. Likewise, that Chometz which one intends to eat for breakfast on Erev Pessach morning should be carefully covered and kept to one corner.
Before the search is started, the following ברכה is said:
ברוך אתה ה' אלוקינו מלך העולם אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו על ביעור חמץ.
There should be no interruption between the ברכה and the conclusion of the search. The ברכה can be for any number of houses, courtyards, offices or other places of work (which all have to be searched if they belong to a Jew) so long as the intention was to include these places at the time of making the ברכה. After the search for Chometz so as to be rid of it, there is the additional Mitzvah of annulling and disowning any Chometz one might have in one’s possession at all and after the search one should speak out this intention, thus:
“All kinds of Chometz in my possession which I have not seen or of which I have no knowledge, should be as nothing, and considered ownerless as the dust of the earth.”
Even though the intention and wish to disown any Chometz in one’s possession was spoken the night before, nevertheless, the next morning after the actual burning of the remaining Chometz, this intention has to be repeated aloud to include each and every particle of Chometz, thus:
“All types of Chometz in my possession, which I have seen and which I have not seen, of which I have knowledge and of which I have no knowledge; which I have destroyed and which I have not destroyed: I hereby disown and wish it all to be as nothing, and considered ownerless as the dust of the earth.”
If, G-d forbid, one found Chometz in one’s possession on Chol HaMo’ed Pessach, one should take it out and burn it immediately. If one found it on Yom Tov, on Shabbos Chol HaMo’ed or late on Erev Pessach which was a Shabbos (in which three cases it is מוקצה and one may not move it at all, even indirectly) one must cover it over with a plate or suchlike until the end of Yom Tov or Shabbos and then burn it (or flush it away) as soon as possible. If the Chometz found in one’s house was in fact sold to a non-Jew, then it should be moved quickly (indirectly, that is, using a dustpan and brush, for example) to the room or location where the rest of the sold Chometz is kept.
A person leaving home within thirty days of Pessach with the intention to spend the Yom Tov elsewhere and not to return until after the Yom Tov, may obviously nevertheless not own any Chometz over Pessach, just like everyone else. Also like everyone else, he has the obligation, the evening before he leaves, to make the search for Chometz, with a candle, just as Chazal instituted, so that his house will be clear of any Chometz during Pessach. However, because his search is before the time instituted by our Chachommim, no Brochoh is said and after the search, he makes the declaration disowning any Chometz he might have missed in his search, as said above (in paragraph 14).
Someone who intends to be away from home for the whole duration of Pessach (for which reason he did not clean the house of Chometz at all) and who does not make the search for Chometz before he leaves for his Yom Tov location, can rent out his house — lock, stock and barrel — to a non-Jew for the duration of Pessach through the Rabbi who is going to arrange the sale of his Chometz to a non-Jew. (See further.) (Although it is true that there are some Halachic authorities that do allow the sale of one’s house for the duration of Pessach even though such a sale is manifestly for the purpose of avoiding the prohibition of owning any Chometz over Pessach (there is no annotation of this sale in the title deeds, for instance) there are others who seriously doubt the validity of such a sale simply because in all other regards it is not recognized as a proper sale. Rather than a sale, therefore, it is better that the house should be leased to the non-Jew for the duration of Pessach with any Chometz there passing into non-Jewish ownership.) In such a case, the vacationer should nevertheless make the search, as mandated by Chazal, but without the Brochoh (as mentioned above) and in any case, he must make the search for Chometz, with the Brochoh, at the place where he is on the night of the 14th Nissan.
If he leaves home more than thirty days before Pessach, he has no obligation to make the search before he leaves but, as said, he must make the search (with the Brochoh) wherever he is on the night of the 14th of Nissan. In all cases, wherever he might be, he makes the declaration renouncing his ownership of any Chometz anywhere in his possession (including back home) after he has made the search. Someone who will be abroad over Pessach and appoints his Rabbi to sell his Chometz to a non-Jew over Pessach must tell this to the Rabbi because in certain cases (if he is going from England to Eretz Yisroel or to America, for instance) the Rabbi needs to keep in mind not to acquire the Chometz back for the owner who is in Eretz Yisroel or America before the end of Pessach there.
