NY Times
Forget the Lottery. The biggest windfall in the country this Passover season might well be coming to an otherwise anonymous man named Glade who works at a Jewish funeral monument company in St. Louis.
Last Passover, Glade became the proud owner of tens of thousands of closets and cabinets full of bread, fancy pasta and alcohol from Jews around North America. He was the gentile who took official ownership of the leavened bread products that those Jews sold for the holiday via Chabad.org, the Web site run by the Brooklyn-based Lubavitcher branch of Hasidic Judiasm.
The Web site puts a modern spin on a tradition that is centuries old. In accordance with their beliefs, Orthodox Jews must not possess even a crumb of leavened bread โ known in Hebrew as chametz โ for the duration of Passover. But to save them from having to throw the prohibited products away, rabbinic authorities long ago came up with a solution.
Jews can put all the chametz they own in a closet, cabinet or room, and assign a rabbi power of attorney over the space and its contents. The rabbi then sells the chametz to a gentile, and leases the gentile the space in which it is stored. At the end of the eight-day holiday, the rabbi buys it all back for the original owners.
Traditionally, a local rabbi would make the sale, but since Chabad started an online version of the service out of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, about a decade ago, an ever growing number of Jewsโ 56,843 last yearโ have pointed and clicked to give power of attorney over their chametz to Rabbi Yosef Landa, a Chabad rabbi in St. Louis.
Rabbi Landa is among thousands of rabbis dispatched by the Brooklyn-based Chabad movement to work around the world encouraging Jews to uphold Jewish traditions. He is also the rabbinic point person for local chametz sales among St. Louisโs 50,000-member Jewish community. And he appoints rabbis in Russia, Thailand, Britain and elsewhere to handle online requests for the sale of chametz from those regions.
โSuddenly this has become the hub for the worldโs chametz sales,โ Rabbi Landa said on Tuesday. โItโs an interesting thing for everybody. Itโs unifying.โ
Rabbi Landaโs main job is to find a gentile willing to take ownership over the virtual worldโs chametz, and sell it by the morning of the first Passover Seder meal. Often, he says, he has turned to Glade.
He does not know much about Glade personally. He first said that Glade was a handyman at a synagogue, then after speaking with him, said he worked at a Jewish monument company. He told City Room that Glade was not interested in being interviewed about his role as perhaps the largest owner of Jewish chametz in the world.
But Gladeโs personal status โ beyond the fact that he is not a Jew and is willing to participate โ is not that critical, Rabbi Landa said. The transaction itself is simple. Glade signs a document, makes a down payment of, say $50, and the chametz is legally transferred to him. After the holiday, Rabbi Landa buys the chametz back for $100. โHe is very happy to have me buy it back from him, especially for the profit,โ Rabbi Landa said.
Along with a chametz power of attorney form for people to fill out, the Web site asks people to list what time zone they will be in on the morning of the first Seder, so that Chabad can make the transaction on time. One man in Azerbaijan, for example, wrote in to say that he was concerned because the closest time zone listed was in Sydney, Australia. A Chabad representative wrote back to assure him it would be done correctly, according to an e-mail exchange provided by the organization.
We were also told it’s the chometz on the keilim. If the keilim were sold, you would need to toivel them again when you get them back. Can a RAV clarify?
you don’t even know what your talking about, your such a “am hooretz”! according to chabad the actual “keilim” are sold not the chometz in them!!!
Keep up the good work down under.
Go Pittsburgh.
we love you both!!!
You are the most dedicated janitor ever!!!
G-D bless rabbi ulman great for Australia and america
Its interesting to share these pics. Cuz it used to be something we never got to see.
Azerbaijan same time zone as Sydney, Australia?!
The best!
they dont own the space closets or full product they own the chametz only so if your dishes contain chametz and you lock them up and the goy comes knocking wanting his goods – the dishes are not his the chametz in them only belongs to him!!!
Kenneth- YOU ROCK!
I remember you since i was in pre-school about 15 yrs ago!
and kudos to kenneth too! ๐
ืืืจืื ืืืื ืขื ืืืืืชื ืืงืืืฉ-ืขื ืืืืช ืืืื ,ืืื ื ืืจืื ืืื ืืขืฉื