Q&A: Checking for Leaven at the Workplace
Checking for Leaven at the Workplace
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Following an earlier discussion on this forum about checking for leaven at the workplace, I would like to clarify a few points.
In the office where I work, I will not be present during the Passover holiday, and the leaven there will be sold as part of the sale of leaven. As every year, we go through the cabinets and shelves, make sure there is no leaven in them, and clean in preparation for the holiday. However, we have never performed the leaven-checking in the usual form—that is, no inspection was done by candlelight (or flashlight), and the text of “nullification of the leaven” was not recited.
My questions are as follows:
- In such a case—when מדובר in a workplace that will be unoccupied during Passover and whose leaven is being sold—is there an obligation to perform the leaven-check with a candle and to recite the nullification formula?
- Yesterday a general inspection was done, and today I was alone in the office and made sure that no leaven was brought into the place. My understanding is that when a person leaves a place three days or more before Passover, he is not obligated to inspect it—is this understanding correct?
- If one of the employees comes tomorrow, does he need to perform a full leaven-check (including inspecting by flashlight and reciting the nullification formula)?
- Is there any need to observe the custom of hiding 10 pieces of leaven in a workplace as well?
Thank you, Rabbi, for the guidance.
Answer
- In principle, even at home you can sell and nullify it. The enactment to inspect was made lest one come to eat it, or because of important leaven that one does not intend to nullify. If you will not be there during the holiday, in my opinion there is room to be lenient. In any case, you do not need a candle. The nullification formula that you recite around Passover is effective for all the leaven in your possession. There is no need to say it twice.
- You need to inspect every place in your possession, regardless of when you leave. Check before you leave. If you will not be there during the holiday, see section 1.
- If an inspection was already done, I do not understand why one would inspect again.
- This strange custom has no basis. Even at home there is no obligation to do it. There is a claim that according to Kabbalah there is some reason for it, but the reasons given in the revealed halakhic literature (so that the blessing should not be in vain) are nonsense.
Discussion on Answer
The parameters of the required inspection are the same as at home. In places that sunlight reaches, there is no need for a candle and not specifically at night. One checks only places where there is concern that leaven was brought there. There is no point in just checking for the sake of the obligation, because that you do at home. And as I said, if you will not be at the workplace during Passover, I am doubtful whether there is any need to inspect at all, and whether nullifying and/or selling is not sufficient.
Hello,
Can one also check for leaven at home by sunlight? As far as I recall, in the Shulchan Arukh this option is mentioned only after the fact, but ideally one should inspect by candlelight at night.
Another question: in your opinion, nowadays after the house has been thoroughly cleaned, is there any need at all for checking for leaven (and perhaps even the blessing is in vain)? After all, the chance of finding leaven is negligible, and it is like a place into which leaven is not brought.
If there is direct sunlight. Ideally, with a candle.
There is an enactment to inspect, and therefore one always inspects (though it requires further consideration whether this applies if no leaven was brought into the entire house). That is why people put out crumbs. But in my opinion there is no need for that in order to avoid a blessing in vain.
Thank you, Rabbi, for the answer.
I am trying to understand the Rabbi’s words in light of the answer from the following source:
https://www.yeshiva.org.il/ask/131983
There it says that a check has to be done, which we already did—we simply went through the office and cleaned it.
I did not say the full text or the formula for nullifying leaven, since the Rabbi said one can rely on the formula said at home.
Aside from cleaning and going through the leaven, was there anything else we were supposed to do in the office?
(We did not use a candle or a flashlight.)