The Selling of Chametz

Before the Passover holiday, this year on April 19, there is a time-honored Jewish tradition and extremely important mitzvah from the Torah not only to refrain from eating chametz but also to remove all chametz from our possession.

What is Chametz?

Chametz includes:

Flour and leavened products like bread, cereals, and almost anything grain-based or with flour or yeast ingredients.

As products began to have a longer shelf life, the rabbis devised a very simple way of fulfilling this mitzvah: we sell all our chametz to a non-Jew for the 8 days of Passover.

(For the mitzvah of removing the chametz we suffice with destroying only a small part on the morning before, to do the mitzvah.)

It is very easy to do: just fill in the information below and sign and your ownership of

the chametz is officially transferred for the required time.

Important Notes:

  • You are not selling any non-food valuables in the home. All you are selling are the chametz related foods and items.
  • No one will come to your home, or call you, to pick up your “leftover cereal” or chametz (unless you own a very expensive liquor store, and even then it doesn’t happen). You are one of tens of thousands of households doing this in Arizona alone. Conceptually—and actually—all this chametz will belong to one non-Jewish individual, who sells it back after Passover.
  • It is of great spiritual value even if you choose to keep this mitzvah onlypartially, by filling out this form. The ideal Passover observance includes not eating any chametz for the duration of Passover, and ideally all sold foods, etc,should be set aside in a separate place, or covered in the pantry, and many more details that can be found online at www.jewishanthem.com/passover.

To sell your chametz online go to www.JewishAnthem.com/chametz