GUESS WHO'S COMING FORCHOMETZ?

Riskin, Shlomo

GUESS WHO'S COMING FORCHOMETZ? SHLOMO RKKIN The Lincoln Square community of mid-town New York experienced one of its most exciting Passover festivals last year—and it had nothing whatever to do...

...As most of you know, the Bible forbids a Jew from owning chametz (any edible substance containing the smallest amount of a grain product which had contact with water for more than 18 minutes) during the eight days of Passover...
...If he does not make his collection by the end of the festival, all of the chametz reverts to its original owner...
...Despite the fact that great care is taken to provide for a legally valid sale, the entire transaction is generally seen by all concerned as a pro forma act at best, and a legal fiction (loophole in the law) at worst...
...But last year was different...
...But this was only the beginning...
...Marie then left his office with a bottle of J & B under her arm, after depositing her check for "chametz—scotch...
...As our relationship developed, I suggested to Marie that she serve as the gentile to purchase the chametz of the approximately 500 Jewish families who had empowered me to be their agent for the sale...
...In the ensuing thirty minutes, her "client's" mood changed from dismay to consternation to amusement to pride ("Now I am confident that the chametz sale is for real...
...Will Marie still be willing to serve as our goy or will she convert and move to Meah Sheriml Or is Marie in actuality Elijah, the prophet, in modish Woman's Lib guise, reminding the Jewish people that they had better take their rituals seriously, if they expect to usher in the Messiah before next Pesach...
...She described herself upon our first meeting—with a devilish twinkle in her eye—as a "shiksa" who was fascinated by Jewish traditions, and had even attended a number of my lectures in the past...
...The gentile gives a down payment, takes official title to all the chametz, and upon his taking possession, is expected to pay the market value price...
...well, I'm the goy who bought your chametz, and I've come to select a few bottles of your whiskey," she announced demurely, taking out the various contracts from her pocketbook...
...To my delight, she accepted the challenge with alacrity...
...The Friday morning before Passover, she arrived in my office bright and early...
...During the course of the year, I met a delightful woman who is the personal secretary of a close congregant...
...How many congregants will make me their agent to sell their chametz this year...
...She then continued her rounds for the rest of the Intermediate Days of Passover, carefully choosing the names on her list and collecting a most impressive stockpile of her own Pesach chametz...
...I must admit that the Lincoln Square Synagogue community was at first a bit shaken, and then, quite moved by the experience...
...On the day before the festival, the observant Jew conforms with the divine dictum by ferreting out and physically destroying the chametz of which he wishes to be rid, and by formally renouncing ownership over and declaring his total disregard for the chametz he might own, but of which he is unaware...
...I suppose you are wondering why I'm here...
...Shlomo Riskin is the rabbi of the Lincoln Square Synagogue in New York...
...She accepted the rental of my pantry, together with the purchase of my chametz, as well as the chametz of my congregants, whose names, addresses, and amounts of chametz were carefully enumerated in precisely prepared lists, gave me a $5 deposit, signed a contract of ownership, and provided me with an object of her apparel (a hat) as a sign of her complete acquisition...
...On the third day of the festival, Marie called one of my most active congregants and a Vice President of our Synagogue, requesting a private meeting in his office...
...In short, she made me feel inexpressibly relieved that neither I nor my congregants would own any chametz on Passover...
...But by the first day (of Passover) you must cause the chametz to cease to exist within all your habitations," declares the Scriptures...
...SHLOMO RKKIN The Lincoln Square community of mid-town New York experienced one of its most exciting Passover festivals last year—and it had nothing whatever to do with the Sedarim or the services...
...He knew her only as the personal secretary of another congregant with whom he was beginning to develop a close relationship and immediately granted her an appointment...
...However, since many Jews have large quantities of chametz (especially liquor) and would be subject to considerable economic loss if this had to be destroyed, the custom arose, from the time of the Gaonim, to isolate the valuable chametz and "sell" it to a non-Jew for the duration of the festival...
...I am left with some interesting questions...

Vol. 5 • April 1980 • No. 4


 
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