Biur Chametz

From Halachipedia

How to do Biur Chametz

  1. The minhag is to burn Chametz (until it becomes coals or ashes) during the day, however, one fulfills the mitzvah by destroying the Chametz in any fashion. [1]
  2. It is preferable for one to burn his own chometz and not to appoint someone else to do it for him [2]
  3. One should cut the chametz into thin slices in order for it to burn properly. [3]
  4. One should leave over at least a Kezayit of chametz that he is not selling to a non-jew in order to properly fulfill this mitzva. [4]
  5. It is permitted to throw the chametz into a field with a lot of birds, but if the person notices that at the prohibited time for chametz, the birds haven't eaten it yet, he should destroy it immediately. [5]
  6. One fulfills the mitzvah of destroying the Chametz by flushing it down the toilet. [6]
  7. It is forbidden to do melacha once the time for burning comes until you burn the chametz. [7]
  8. One should burn the chametz until it turns to charcoal [8]
  9. If one puts Chametz in one’s private garbage bin one should either pour Ajax on the Chametz to make it totally inedible [9], or put it in the street and declare that it be ownerless in front of three people. [10]. One can also include them in the sale of the chametz to a non-jew but then they cannot be used by him over pesach. [11]
  10. It’s preferable to burn the Chametz without dousing it in gasoline or lighter fluid so that one can destroy the Chametz with fire and not to make it inedible using any other means. [12] If the chametz will not burn in time without the gasoline then one should pour it to speed up the burning. [13]
  11. There is a custom to burn the ten pieces of chametz that were hidden for the bedikah along with the rest of the chametz during biur. [14] There is also a custom to burn the lulav, [15] the aravot used for hoshanot [16], leftover chanuka candles and wicks [17] and fingernails [18] along with the chametz.
  12. One should throw the chametz with his right hand. [19]
  13. One should burn the chametz in one's own property. [20]
  14. One doesn’t have to do Bitul Chametz after Bedika of the Shul or Bet Midrash [21] unless it belongs to an individual in which case one should do Bitul Chametz. [22]
  15. One should brush his teeth before the prohibited time for chametz arrives. [23]
  16. Women are also obligated in the mitzva to destroy chametz. [24]

Which candle to use

  1. One should not use a candle torch such as a havdala candle for checking for chametz because it is not possible to insert it into narrow places. [25]
  2. Someone who used a torch must repeat the search without a blessing using a single candle. [26]
  3. If one does not possess a candle one may use a small flashlight. [27]

Beracha

  1. There is no beracha recited before the burning. The beracha of al biur chametz is recited before the bedika. [28]
  2. If someone forgot the beracha the night before on the bedika, he can recite the next day on the burning. [29]
  3. One does not recite a blessing when using a flashlight for Biur Chametz. [30]

Praying Arvit

  1. If one did not pray arvit and the time to search for chametz has arrived, one must pray arvit first and then search for chametz. [31]

When

  1. If one sold one’s Chametz one shouldn’t do Biur Chametz until after the Rabbi sells the Chametz to the goy which is usually done at the beginning of the 5th hour of the day. [32]
  2. The burning and the bitul of the chametz should be finished by the end of the fifth hour. [33]Some say that one should specifically burn it at the beginning of the fifth hour. [34]
  3. If chametz is found during pesach, see [1]
  4. The nullification during the day should be done before the sixth hour, so that the chametz that you nullify is still yours when you nullify it. [35] but after the burning. [36]
  5. If one leaves his house, he should still do bitul when the time comes. [37]

Erev Pesach on Shabbat

  1. When the fourteenth of Nisan occurs on a Shabbat, all chametz must be destroyed before shabbat except for the chametz that will be needed for the first two shabbat meals. [38]

References

  1. ↑ S”A and Rama 445:1, Mishna Brurah 445:1-2, Chazon Ovadia part 1 page 64. Kaf Hachayim 445:3-4. This is based on the Mishna in Pesachim 21a which records an argument regarding how to fulfill the obligation in Shemot 12:15 תַּשְׁבִּיתוּ שְּׂאֹר מִבָּתֵּיכֶם. Rabbi Yehuda says the only way is to burn while chachamim say you can burn it, crumble it, or throw it into the river. The Gra 445:1 says that even chachamim say that ideally one should burn it, as the Mishnah states one can "even" (af) eliminate it in other ways. He addsvthat the only reason this is only a custom and not obligatory is because according to rabbi yehuda you need to burn the chametz after its prohibited time and since we do it before that we can really do it any way. Kaf Hachayim 445:11 says that there is special kabbalistic importance to burning the chametz because it symbolizes burning the evil inclination.
  2. ↑ Kinyan Torah 5:37
  3. ↑ Chazon Ovadia Pesach page 40.
  4. ↑ Mishnah Berurah 445:10, Kaf Hachayim 445:18.
  5. ↑ Chazon Ovadia page 65.
  6. ↑ Piskei Teshuvot 445:4, Mishna Berura 445:5. Kinyan Torah 2:86 quotes the Chazon Ish 118:3 that he reluctantly agrees that the modern toilet is similar to throwing it into the ocean.
  7. ↑ Chazon Ovadia Part 1 page 65 based on Magen Avraham 445:2.
  8. ↑ Mishna Berura 445:1, Shulchan Aruch Harav 445:4, Kaf Hachayim 445:3.
  9. ↑ Minchat Yitzchak 4:56, Shevet Halevi 1:137.
  10. ↑ Piskei Teshuvot 445:7, Chelkat Yaakov 3:165
  11. ↑ Be'er Moshe 1:41; 3:74
  12. ↑ Halichot Shlomo 6:10, Piskei Teshuvot 445:1, Beer Moshe 5:122, Siddur Pesach Kihilchato page 173.
  13. ↑ http://www.torah.org/advanced/weekly-halacha/5757/metzorah.html
  14. ↑ Kaf Hachayim 432:1 quoting the Arizal, Chazon Ovadia 5763 Pesach Part 1 page 36.
  15. ↑ Rabbi Mansour on dailyhalacha.com. Hagahot Maimoniot Hilkhot Sukkah 7:26 and Darchei Moshe Haaroch 664 and the Rama 664:9. Kaf Hachayim 445:16, 664:60 says to take half of the lulav to burn with the chametz and half to bake the matzot. The custom in Yemen was to use it to feul the ovens for matza according to Rav Yosef Kapach in Halikhot Teiman page.
  16. ↑ Mishna Berura 445:7
  17. ↑ Rabbi Mansour on dailyhalacha.com. See also Leftover oil and wicks of Chanuka candles.
  18. ↑ Chazon Ish quoted in Orchot Rabbeinu page 104
  19. ↑ Orchot Chaim 451:1.
  20. ↑ Teshuvot vihanhagot 1:192 quoting the Ramban that the mitzva from the torah to burn chametz only applies to chametz in your domain.
  21. ↑ Mishna Brurah 433:43, Aruch HaShulchan 433:12
  22. ↑ Halachos of Pesach (Rabbi Eider; pg 73)
  23. ↑ Chazon Ovadia part 1 page 63, Ben Ish Chai Parashat Tzav halacha 8, Kaf Hachayim 444:32, Yechave Daat 1:91:8.
  24. ↑ Sefer Hachinuch Mitzva 9, Chazon Ovadia pesach 5763 part 1 page 57. Pri Megadim Introduction to Hilchot Pesach 7 says that women are exempt from destroying chametz.
  25. ↑ Chazon Ovadia page 38
  26. ↑ Chazon Ovadia page 38
  27. ↑ Chazon Ovadia page 38
  28. ↑ Shulchan Aruch 432:1. Mishna Berura 432:3 explains that this is because bedika is considered the beginning of the biur, and the bitul is done mainly in the heart and you can't say a beracha on something done in your heart.
  29. ↑ Mishna Berura 423:4
  30. ↑ Or Letzion 7.8
  31. ↑ Chazon Ovadia page 44
  32. ↑ Rav Schachter on OU Pre-Pesach Webcast 5771 between minutes 28:30 and 30:15. See Rabbi Mordechai Willig in Am Mordechai (Moadim) who defends the practice of those who burn it earlier.
  33. ↑ Shulchan Aruch 434:2, Mishna Berura 434:12, Kaf Hachayim 434:38-40.
  34. ↑ Piskei Teshuvot 445:3. The gemara in pesachim 21a says that from the torah chametz is only forbidden at mid-day, the rabbis made it two hours earlier because people might get confused with the hours. Rambam Chametz U'matza 1:9.
  35. ↑ Shulchan Aruch 434:2
  36. ↑ Rama 434:2. According to Rav Yaakov Emden in Mor Uketzia 434 one can do the bitul before the burning even lechatchila.
  37. ↑ Shulchan Aruch 236:1.
  38. ↑ Shulchan Aruch 444:1, Rambam Hilchot Chametz U'matza 3:3 based on Rabbi Meir's opinion on Pesachim 49a.
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