Q:
this is my first year of marriage, please could you explain exactly how is one supposed to do Biur Chometz, especially as this year Erev Pesach falls on Shabbos?
A:
The minhag is to burn Chometz until it becomes coals or ashes during the day, however, one fulfills the mitzvah by destroying the Chometz in any fashion.
The minhag is to burn the Chometz in its own bonfire or fire-pit and not on one’s stove. Magen Avraham 445:5. Teshuvos vihanhagos 1:192 quoting the Ramban says that the mitzva from the torah to burn Chometz only applies to Chometz in your domain and therefore one should burn the Chometz in one’s own property.
It’s preferable to burn the Chometz without dousing it in gasoline or lighter fluid so that one can destroy the Chometz with fire and not to make it inedible using any other means. If the Chometz will not burn in time without the gasoline then one should pour it to speed up the burning.
One should burn the Chometz until it turns to charcoal Mishna Brurah 445:1.The Orchos Chaim 451:1 says that one should throw the Chometz into the bonfire with his right hand.It is preferable for one to burn his own Chometz and not to appoint someone else to do it for him.
One should cut the Chometz into thin slices in order for it to burn properly.One should leave over at least a Kezayis of Chometz that he is not selling to a non-Jew in order to properly fulfill this mitzva.One fulfills the mitzvah of destroying the Chometz by flushing it down the toilet.
if one is throwing Chometz into water he should crush it up first. This applies even if one is destroying it before the sixth hour on Erev Pesach.If one puts Chometz in one’s private garbage bin one should either pour something on the Chometz that makes it totally inedible or put it in the street and declare that it be ownerless in front of three people. One can also include them in the sale of the Chometz to a non-Jew but then they cannot be used by him over pesach.
There is a custom to burn the ten pieces of Chometz that were hidden for the bedikah along with the rest of the Chometz during biur. Women are also obligated in the mitzva to destroy Chometz.Some hold that one can fulfill tashbisu by asking a non-Jew to destroy one’s Chometz, others disagree and hold that one should destroy it oneself or have another Jew do it.
There is a discussion whether a person can fulfill tashbisu by selling one’s Chometz to a non-Jew.One could feed one’s Chometz to his pet and that is a fulfillment of tashbisu.
It is permitted to throw the Chometz into a field with a lot of birds, but if the person notices that at the prohibited time for Chometz, the birds haven’t eaten it yet, he should destroy it immediately.One should not use a candle torch such as a havdala candle for checking for Chometz because it is not possible to insert it into narrow places.Someone who used a torch must repeat the search without a blessing using a single candle.
If one does not possess a candle one may use a small flashlight.There is no brocha recited before the burning. The brocha of al biur Chometz is recited before the bedika.If someone forgot the brocha the night before on the bedika, he can recite the next day on the burning.
One does not recite a blessing when using a flashlight for Bedikas Chometz.If one did not pray Maariv and the time to search for Chometz has arrived, one must pray first and then search.
If one is selling his Chometz via his local rabbi, it is preferable to burn his remaining Chometz after the sale takes effect.The burning and the bitul of the Chometz should be finished by the end of the fifth hour. Some say that one should specifically burn it at the beginning of the fifth hour.The nullification during the day should be done before the sixth hour, so that the Chometz that you nullify is still yours when you nullify it. but after the burning.If one leaves his house, he should still do bitul when the time comes.It is forbidden to do melocha once the time for burning comes until you burn the Chometz.When the fourteenth of Nisan occurs on a Shabbos, all Chometz must be destroyed before Shabbos except for the Chometz that will be needed for the first two Shabbos meals. |