To Sell Your Chametz this Pesach 2025

“This day shall be to you one of remembrance: you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord throughout the ages; you shall celebrate it as an institution for all time. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the very first day, you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day to the seventh day—that person shall be cut off from Israel” (Exodus 12:14-15).

“Leaven”, or “Chametz” includes all forms of leavened baked goods, alcoholic beverages derived from grain, cereals, and any other foods not marked as kosher for Passover. Ideally, all Chametz should be destroyed or given away before Pesach begins.

In the course of your Pesach cleaning, if you would like to give away your Chametz, you are welcome to drop off any UNOPENED packages of NON-PERISHABLE food items to the JCFS and/or Winnipeg Harvest bins located near the Shaarey Zedek Office.

If you do not give away your Chametz, it should be stored in a way that guarantees it will not be used until after Pesach. A rabbi should act as your agent both to sell the Chametz to the non-Jew before Passover, and to buy it back right after Passover ends.

To sell your Chametz, please complete the form below or download a form here and return it to the synagogue office no later than 3:00 PM CT on Thursday, April 10, 2025. We cannot guarantee processing of any forms received after the deadline.

Information for Thursday, April 10, 2025

1. Morning Service: 8:00 AM CT (online and in-person)
2. Siyyum B’chorim (D’var Torah to avoid the Ta’anit Bechorim*): approximately at 8:45 AM CT (online and in-person)

*Ta’anit Bechorim (Fast of the Firstborn) is observed by the first-born to commemorate the deliverance of the firstborn Israelites in Egypt. Rabbi Aníbal Mass will give a public reading and explanation of the concluding passage of a Tractate of the Talmud. Since eating at such an occasion is a Se’udat Mitzvah—a festive meal which accompanies the performance of a Mitzvah—the firstborn who are present at the Siyyum may break the fast. Since one is prohibited to fast on Shabbat (this year, the day before Passover), the fast is held on Thursday.

1. Search for the Chametz (at home) after dark. Recite the blessing prior to the search, and the nullification of the Chametz (Kol Chamira) following the search.
2. Bedikat Chametz / Search for Chametz at home in the evening.

Information for Friday, April 11, 2025

1. Public Selling of the Chametz: 9:00 AM CT (online and in-person)
2. Latest time to Burn the Chametz: 12:21 PM CT

Information for Saturday, April 12, 2025

1. Latest time to eat Chametz: 11:11* AM CT
2. Latest time to nullify Chametz: 12:20 PM CT

*Shabbat meals should be completely kosher for Passover. Since is forbidden to eat regular matzah on the day before Passover, we recommend to completely stop eating Chametz on Friday after you burn the Chametz (or before 12:21 PM CT) and use egg Matzah for the Hamotzi.

I, the undersigned, fully empower and permit Rabbi Aníbal Mass to act on my behalf to sell all Chametz possessed by me—knowingly or unknowingly—as defined by Torah and rabbinic law, and to lease all places wherein Chametz owned by me may be found. This transaction will be in effect from Saturday, April 12, 2025 at noon, and ending at approximately 9:23 PM CT on Sunday, April 20, 2025.