Hi everyone,
Welcome back! I hope everyone had a wonderful, relaxing and meaningful Pesach.
Now that Pesach has ended and everyone is once again enjoying their chametz, i wanted to discuss the Rabbinic prohibition against eating “Chametz She’avar Alav HaPesach”, namely, eating chametz that was owned by a Jew over Pesach.
All of the major local stores/supermarkets as well as food establishments under Orthodox Supervision that are in the area are either owned by a non-Jew or sold their Chametz over Pesach. Therefore, everything from Fresh Grocer, to C-3, Sprinkles (now called Kiwi Yogurt), CVS, Maccabbean, Acme, Shoprite, Genuardi, NY Bagels, etc. are all ok to buy and eat from.
The only exception to this rule is Ben & Jerry’s, which is owned by Jews and does not sell their chametz. In the past, free cone day has been immediately following Pesach, thereby cleaning out the store, and obliterating all problematic chametz. This year, that is not the case.
What does this mean? Can I not eat anything at Ben & Jerry’s? For how long?
Not so fast – let me explain:
The rule is that only “Chametz Gamur” (products that are made primarily from one of the five grains, such as bread, cookies or pretzels) cannot be bought after Pesach. But other items, which may have a small amount of chametz, or are made with Kitniyot (such as ice cream or sugary toppings) – are NOT a problem after Pesach. This means that one may patron Ben & Jerry’s, so long as one does NOT consume anything that is “real chametz”, such as cones, or eat ice cream that contains in it: cookies, brownies, cookie dough, etc (items that would warrant the blessing of “boreh minai mezonot”). I would suggest waiting until the end of the month until purchasing any of those “chametz” items.