Chametz Cutoff: When You Have to Stop Eating Before Passover

Even though Passover begins on the night of the 15th of Nisan, the ban on eating chametz starts earlier. Once four hours have passed from the start of the day, eating chametz is forbidden (the exact time changes from year to year and is published annually on Jewish calendars).

Here’s why: When the Temple stood and the Passover offering was brought, its time began at midday, and from then the Torah prohibited eating chametz (see Exodus 23:18; Pesachim 5a). To help people avoid a Torah prohibition—especially since chametz is around all year and hard to step away from instantly—the sages moved the practical cutoff earlier and ruled: "We eat during the first four [hours], suspend during the fifth, and burn at the beginning of the sixth" (Pesachim 1:4). In practice, that means: during the first four hours of the day, eating is permitted; in the fifth hour, chametz is in limbo—you may benefit from it (for example, feed it to animals or sell it to a non-Jew) but may not eat it; from the start of the sixth hour, even benefit is prohibited, and any remaining chametz is burned.

הספר החדש 'ההגדה של פסח עם פירוש' של הרב זמיר כהן

These are seasonal (proportional) hours, not fixed sixty-minute hours. Daytime is calculated from dawn to nightfall, then divided into twelve. If daylight lasts fourteen hours, each hour is seventy-two minutes; if daylight lasts ten hours, each hour is fifty minutes. After four such hours from dawn, eating chametz becomes prohibited (Chazon Ovadia, Pesach, p. 59). This dawn-to-nightfall method is what calendars call: "Zman Magen Avraham." Some Ashkenazi communities count from sunrise to sunset, the method listed on calendars as: "Zman ha-Gra." According to that view, the four hours are counted from sunrise, and only then does the eating prohibition begin. One may rely on this to be lenient for children who have not yet reached bar or bat mitzvah and allow them to eat chametz until four hours after sunrise (Chazon Ovadia, p. 60, note).

A. When you finish eating on that morning, clean and brush your teeth thoroughly so no chametz remains between your teeth that could come out while chewing food after the cutoff time (Chazon Ovadia, Pesach, p. 63).

B. Dentures should be rinsed and cleaned well of every crumb and food remnant; there is no need to kasher them. One who wishes to be stringent may pour boiling water from a first vessel over them after cleaning well, and that is sufficient (Chazon Ovadia, Pesach, p. 64).

C. If the eating prohibition time has arrived and you remember you still have chametz you prefer not to destroy and you have not yet sold it to a non-Jew, hurry to sell it before the time when benefit becomes prohibited. After benefit becomes prohibited, you must destroy it.

Burning chametz

A. On the morning of the 14th, eliminate all chametz that belongs to you (Rema 445:1). The mitzvah of removing chametz can be fulfilled by burning it, crumbling and scattering it to the wind, or throwing it into the sea (Shulchan Aruch), and the common custom is specifically to burn it (Rema; Chazon Ovadia, Pesach, p. 64).

B. This removal, and the nullification that follows it, should be done before the start of the sixth hour, as published on calendars as the end time for bi'ur chametz (removal of chametz).

C. When burning chametz, make sure it is fully consumed. It’s best not to throw a whole loaf into the fire; slice it so the flames take hold well. You may pour kerosene on the chametz to render it unfit for eating (Chazon Ovadia, Pesach, p. 64).  However, to fulfill the mitzvah of specifically burning by fire as noted, do this only after at least an olive’s volume of chametz has been burned.

(צילום אילוסטרציה: נתי שוחט / פלאש 90)

D. Some have the custom to burn the chametz together with the lulav, since one mitzvah was performed with the lulav and now another mitzvah—burning chametz—is done with it (Rashal 87).

E. When you finish burning the chametz, nullify all chametz in your possession and say:

"כָּל חֲמִירָא דְאִיכָּא בִּרְשׁוּתִי, דַּחֲזִיתֵיהּ וּדְלָא חֲזִיתֵיהּ, דְּבִיעַרְתֵּיהּ וּדְלָא בִּיעַרְתֵּיהּ, לִבְטִיל וְלֶהֱוֵי כְּעַפְרָא דְאַרְעָא" (Shulchan Aruch 434:3).

Translation of the words: "All chametz that is in my possession, that I have seen and that I have not seen, that I have removed and that I have not removed, shall be nullified and become like the dust of the earth."

There is a difference between the nighttime and daytime versions of this nullification: At night, one nullifies only chametz not found during the search, since there is still chametz on hand that one intends to eat that evening and the next morning. By day, one nullifies all chametz in one’s possession—both what was seen and what was not seen.

F. Say the nullification before the start of the sixth hour; once benefit from chametz becomes prohibited at the beginning of the sixth hour, one can no longer nullify it (Shulchan Aruch 434:2).

G. Repeat this text three times, since repeating something three times shows determination and finality. And because some say nullification works like declaring ownerless, it is good to add the word "hefker" on the third recitation and say: "ליבטיל ולהוי הפקר כעפרא דארעא" (see Chazon Ovadia).

H. The nullification should be said in a language you understand so it’s clear you are truly nullifying the chametz. If you do not understand Aramaic, say it in a language you do understand (see Chazon Ovadia, p. 54).

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