Recently, Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show ran a story about the “eruv controversy” currently brewing in the tony village of West Hampton, Long Island. You can watch the video clip here: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-march-23-2011/the-thin-jew-line. As many might know, the eruv makes it easier for traditional Jews to keep Shabbat. Shabbat laws prohibit certain activities, like carrying keys or tallitot, or pushing baby strollers, in public areas, unless there is an eruv. While the details of eruv are fairly complex, the principle behind it is straightforward. The eruv is a specially constructed boundary that transforms a public thoroughfare into a private one. It is largely invisible and often utilizes existing telephone poles and lines as well as overhead power lines to complete its enclosure. While one cannot do those above activities along with many others in a public area, one may do them in a private area. The laws of eruv can be found in the Talmud in a tractate named, appropriately, Eruvin (the plural of eruv). If you live in Baltimore you probably know that it has an eruv, as do many other cities in which traditional Jews live.
I know what you’re thinking – it’s just another loophole to help traditionally observant Jews “get around” old fashioned and outmoded restrictions. In the video, the reporter deadpans that eruv comes
“from the Hebrew word meaning loophole”. Lots of people missed it, but the reporter was joking! The fact is, eruv here means boundary and it is not a loophole.
Another tradition erroneously seen as a loophole is the pre Passover “sale of chametz”. The Torah explicitly forbids Jews from eating, owning and deriving benefit from all chametz (leavened) products on Passover. It enjoins us to “remove all chametz from our homes” for the entire holiday. The rabbis, however, recognized that it would be difficult and even wasteful to dispose of all of the chametz products in our possession prior to the festival. This was especially so for those who made their living through the liquor business, for example. With typical rabbinic ingenuity, they arrived at the solution of allowing us to sell the chametz to a gentile for the duration of the holiday.This sale of chametz is a fully legal and actual sale and has become a time-honored tradition. Individual Jews and many food and beverage companies owned by Jews sell their chametz. It is not a loophole. Like eruv, it is a complex procedure with straightforward results, not the least of which is making it easier to observe Jewish law authentically and fully.
Because it is a complicated procedure, it has been customary to allow an experienced rabbi handle the sale itself. Perhaps your synagogue’s rabbi provides this service. But if not, and as a service to the members and friends of the Cardin School family, I am happy to act as your agent for the sale this year. If you would like to have me do this on your behalf, please use the handy form below.
Best wishes for a wonderfully joyous and kosher Pesach!
~Rabbi Yaakov Chaitovsky
Judaics Instructor
________________________________________________________
I _____________________________________ fully empower and permit Rabbi Yaakov Chaitovsky to sell all chametz and chametz products possessed by me, knowingly or unknowingly, as defined by Torah and Rabbinic law, and to lease all places wherein chametz owned may be found. This transaction will be in effect from Monday, April 18, 2011 at 10:00 am and will continue until 9 pm*** on Tuesday, April 26, 2011.
Name:_______________________________________________
Address of all places where your chametz is located: ___________________________________________________________
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