Pesach Pointers

Prepared for print by Faigy Peritzman

What happens if I forget to say kol chamira? I’m so worried that I may have missed a crumb cleaning, and now, if it’s not hefker, does that mean I still have actual chometz in my house?

Even if somehow, you forgot (twice) to recite kol chamira, crumbs and pieces of chometz smaller than a k’zayis are going to be hefker regardless (especially if they’re unfit for consumption), and you will not have transgressed the prohibition of having chometz in your home over Pesach. Remember, kol chamira needs to be recited by your husband (or father), not by you, unless you’re the head of the household or unless you were specifically authorized to do so by the head of the household.

We’re going to my in-laws for all of Pesach. Are we obligated to do bedikas chometz before we leave?

If you follow the custom of selling your chometz to a non-Jew through a rav, and include your entire house in the sale, then you’re technically exempt from bedikas chometz as well. Still, it’s customary and appropriate to designate one room in the house as not being sold to the non-Jew, and to clean and check that room on the night of bedikas chometz, with a proper brachah.

My husband insists on taking out each sefer, moving furniture, etc., during bedikas chometz. If I spent weeks cleaning already, why must he do this?

He’s not halachically required to do all of that. All he needs to do is to check that those areas in the house where chometz was brought into during the year were indeed cleaned and made kosher for Pesach. He’s not required to check behind the furniture or behind the refrigerator. In general, seforim only need to be cleaned or checked if you know for sure that a particular sefer was used during the year while eating chometz.

If I have my own office at work, must I clean and do bedikas chometz there?

If during the year chometz was brought into your office, and you’re planning to use the office during Chol Hamoed, then you must clean it, and then check it during bedikas chometz. If chometz wasn’t brought into the office during the year, or even if it was but you’re not planning to use the office during Chol Hamoed, then include your office with the mechiras chometz, and that will exempt you from the bedikah.