May One Purchase Chometz from a Store That Sold Its Chometz but Continued Doing Business with It On Pesach?

Rav Ariel Ovadia

Question: After Pesach, I went to a store and saw that it had a sign hanging that said that the chometz was sold through a reputable bais din; however, I know that this store was selling chometz as usual on Pesach. May I purchase chometz from this store? 

Answer: This question comes up a lot, both here in America and in Eretz Yisroel. For example, the duty-free stores in the airport in E”Y sell their chometz through the Rabbanut but continue to operate as usual over Pesach. One can certainly wonder how such a sale can be considered valid. 

Rav Moshe Feinstein deals with this question, and he writes that although it may seem like a joke, the sale is valid and the chometz belongs to the non-Jew over Pesach. If the Jewish owner sells some of it on Pesach, that amount is “stolen” from the sale – which may mean that the owner is in transgression of the prohibition of baal yiraeh – but the sale is still valid on the rest of the chometz. 

The Chelkas Yaakov adds that it is a mitzvah to arrange such sales because doing so saves the Jewish storeowner from doing many issurim, even though he is still doing some issurim. 

Thus, according to those Poskim one is permitted to buy chometz after Pesach from the duty-free shops that sold their chametz and other similar stores.