Q&A from the Bais HaVaad Halacha Hotline

Leaven Questions

April 11, 2024

Q I will be staying in a hotel on Chol Hamo’ed. Must I perform bedikas chametz?

A The mitzvah of bedikas chametz is not limited to the night of Erev Pesach, it applies until the end of Yom Tov: One who rents a room on Pesach that was not previously checked must perform bedikah to ensure it is free of chametz, and he recites a bracha (see Piskei Teshuvos 437:1).

Some say that today’s hotel rooms don’t require a thorough bedikah. Because hotel guests expect, and hotels generally provide, spotless accommodations, a clean room can be assumed to be chametz free. A superficial bedikah suffices, and no bracha is made (Kovetz Halachos 7:5).

If one hasn’t performed bedikah in any another location, and he arrives at the hotel before Pesach, it is a good practice to bring some chametz into the room in order to properly fulfill the mitzvah of bedikah (R’ Shmuel Felder, Shiurei Halacha 1:17).

Q Must a hospital patient do bedikas chametz in his room?

A A resident is only obligated to do bedikah in a place reserved to him. A hospital room is always open to medical staff and management and is not for the patient’s private use. If the patient is given a closet or cabinet for personal use, it should be checked without a bracha (Piskei Teshuvos ibid.).

Residents of medical facilities that provide private or “semiprivate” accommodations (e.g., convalescent homes or assisted living facilities) must do bedikas chametz in their rooms with a bracha, as their living spaces are akin to hotel rooms (ibid.).

Q My business bought a vacant home in a distant town at a foreclosure auction, and we plan to sell it shortly. Does it require bedikas chametz?

A If the home was purchased more than thirty days before Pesach, it does not require bedikah, because its location is remote and inaccessible to you on Pesach. Otherwise, it requires bedikah, because you acquired it during the biur chametz period, which begins thirty days before Pesach (see O.C. 436:1).

To obviate the need for bedikah, you can include the property in your mechiras chametz document. The document should specify that in addition to selling the chametz inside the home to the non-Jew, you are renting the home to him, making it exempt from bedikah (Mishnah Brurah 436:32).