Post-Pesach warning: Don't buy chametz from seculars
Rabbi Yosef Efrati renews Rabbi Elyashiv's ruling that one must not buy leavened food made before Passover in secular person's business
Kobi Nahsoni • Ynet
The sale of leavened food by a secular person has no halachic validity, and therefore one must not buy chametz after the holiday of Passover in businesses which are not owned by religious people, Rabbi Yosef Sholom Elyashiv rules.
According to the haredi authority, when it comes to a person who does not observe mitzvot, "there is no real intention in the sale, and he sees it as a 'religious act' only."
Rabbi Elyashiv's ruling, which was given in the past, has been renewed in an "announcement to the public" issued by the rabbi's associate, Rabbi Yosef Efrati.
According to the announcement, special bills have been issued by kashrut organizations which can solve the problem.
According to Jewish Law, one must not eat chametz owned by a Jew during Pesach, as its owner violated the injunction that "no leaven shall be seen or found in your possession."
Selling the chametz to a non-Jew provided a solution for big businesses and factories which may suffer many losses by destroying all the leavened food in their possession. However, there are those who do not rely on this sale and make certain to only buy chametz that was made after the holiday.
Rabbi Efrati runs a large kosher certifying business and, according to Rabbi Elyashiv and Rabbi Efrati, kashrut organizations, including Efrati's, have "bills" – i.e., contracts – that can "solve" the "problem."
What a coincidence.