The arguments cited above against selling supermarkets to non-Jews for Pesach lead us to fundamental questions about the propriety of the general sale of chametz as well. To highlight this point, consider the following: For the past twenty years, I have had the unique honor of arranging the sale of chametz for all Jewish-owned companies that are certified by the OU. It has often occurred to me that the total value of this chametz amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars. Every year I meet with an accommodating non-Jew who graciously purchases this chametz for a down payment of ten dollars. I explain to him that the balance of payment is not due until after Pesach. If one year I decide to not repurchase the chametz, this kind-hearted purchaser would have to come up with an astronomical sum that would be way beyond his means. Most rabbis don’t engage in million-dollar sales, but the chametz they sell on behalf of their congregants may easily be worth tens of thousands of dollars. How can these sales be valid when the buyers lack the financial resources to pay for the goods?
This very same argument was made almost three hundred years ago by Rabbi Alexander Sender Schor (1650-1733) (Bichor Shor, Pesachim 21a). The sale of large quantities of chametz became prevalent a few hundred years ago as Jews began to invest heavily in the liquor industry, and the disposal of chametz before Pesach would have resulted in very substantial losses. Rabbi Schor asks, “How can the sale be valid when the purchaser is a man of very limited means who never purchased anything of significant value in his lifetime?” Though Rabbi Schor offers a halachic response to this question, many rabbanim objected to mechirat chametz on these grounds, and the matter remained controversial. In fact, many people do not sell chametz be’ain (visible chametz), and will only rely on mechirat chametz for mixtures of chametz. (For example, licorice and many corn-based cereals contain wheat flour as a minor ingredient. The halachah is less strict with regard to such chametz, since it is not “visible.”) A full analysis of this topic is beyond the scope of this article, but the lenient position has generally prevailed. Mechirat chametz has become a fixture of Jewish life, and most people sell all kinds of chametz. For our purposes, suffice it to say that mechirat chametz is valid because the sellers, who are unable to own chametz, clearly want to unburden themselves of these forbidden wares, and the purchaser is told that the sale is legally binding. In theory, the buyer could acquire the necessary capital to pay the balance due after Pesach by selling the chametz that he has acquired.
