29. All that has been said until now regarding the sale of chometz is only as regards the issur of בל יראה ובל ימצא . How the chometz sale affects chometz she'avar alav haPesach is a totally separate question, as that is only a derabanan penalty.
30. Any chometz that was owned by a non-Jew on Pesach does not cause a its previous Jewish owner to transgress בל יראה ובל ימצא , nor does it become chometz she'avar alav haPesach (see above, 5).
31. Therefore, even if a particular person does not rely on selling chometz, he may rely on someone else's chometz sale; he does not need to treat that chometz as chometz she'avar alav haPesach.
32. He may also buy chometz products from a storeowner who performed a proper chometz sale, since the storeowner had the significant loss heter. [If he does not know the storeowner to be an ehrliche Jew, he must see a certificate stating that the storeowner sold his chometz.] This is accepted practice throughout the world.
Machmirim
33. Although common practice is to rely on the sale of chometz regarding chometz she'avar alav haPesach, many gedolim were stringent and did not rely on it (הגר"א מעשה רב אות קפ"א, רע"א אגרות סופרים כתבי רע"א סי' מ"ח, חזו"א ארחות רבינו פסח אות י"ט וכ') due to the above concerns.
34. Wholesalers and warehouse owners in Eretz Yisrael. There is another reason to be machmir in Eretz Yisrael to only eat chometz baked after Pesach: even if the factory sells its chometz under supervision of its kashrus-granting agency, and even if the storeowner has a certificate confirming he sold his chometz, there is no official body obligating the wholesaler or supplier between the factory and the store to sell its chometz. Many of them are not religious, ר"ל . Thus, anything they supply to the store is forbidden due to concern of chometz she'avar alav haPesach.
35. Therefore, every storeowner with yiras Shomayim is responsible to see to it that he only allows goods in his store from someone with a certificate stating that he sold his chometz.
Makolet, Supermarket
36. Makolet. Generally speaking, small grocery stores with Torah observant owners sell their chometz. Thus, the chometz in the store right after Pesach has no concern of chometz she’avar alav haPesach. However, after a certain period of time, the stores receive goods from wholesalers, not directly from factories, and many wholesalers are not Torah observant and do not sell their chometz. The incoming goods are sometimes chometz she’avar alav haPesach and assur. Therefore, it is advisable to only buy from a Torah observant storeowner with yiras Shomayim who is careful to only buy new goods from wholesalers who sold their chometz.
37. Supermarket. Big supermarkets, especially ones that are part of a chain, usually buy directly from factories. If a factory is under a high-level hashgachah, one can assume its chometz was sold. Therefore, if a supermarket is run by Torah observant Jews, one can buy there without concern.
Ground and Baked After Pesach
38. For the above reasons, there are those who are careful to only eat chometz produced after Pesach. They should know that even if the product was made after Pesach, that does not mean it is from flour ground after Pesach, unless it says so explicitly.
Production Code
39. For most chometz products in Eretz Yisrael, one can check the production date on the package. This year [5785], Motzei Shabbos after Pesach fell on April 19, 2025 until midnight, which is 109 days from the beginning of the secular calendar year. The numbers at the end of the production code first indicate the year 2025, then the number of days into the year. For example, 5,109 or 25,109 both indicate 109 days into the secular year 2025.
40. Any product with a number below 109 was made before the end of Pesach, above 109, after the end of Pesach.
