Selling Hamets: The Basics

AFAIK the best way to fulfill the precept of not owning any leavened bread foodstuffs during Pesah, is to get rid of it all before Pesah.

If that’s not feasible for you – due to the financial loss it would incur, for example – it is also possible to sell it, in a halakhically-valid sale, to a gentile friend.

This works by a) selling the leavened bread foodstuffs to a gentile on credit with a 7 (or 8) day term for repayment, with the leavened bread foodstuffs as collateral for the loan and b) leasing the area in which the leavened bread foodstuffs are stored to a gentile with a 7 (or 8) day term for initial payment, and reverting it to original ownership upon default.

When this is done correctly, neither the leavened bread foodstuffs nor their location are in your possession for the duration of Pesah, and upon finishing the holiday you either receive the same leavened bread foodstuffs and don’t have a new part-time tenant, or you get their monetary equivalent and are now a part-time landlord. 🤷

If you would like help arranging for your own sale of leavened bread foodstuffs in anticipation of Pesah, feel free to message me.

You will need:

1) a gentile you trust

2) an extra house key

3) an area of your house (can be a shelving unit) that can be clearly demarcated and preferably closed/covered

4) a price list for your leavened bread foodstuffs