With the Jewish holiday of Pesach (aka Passover) coming up soon, I wanted to make an offer to any Jewish folks out there who might need a little help with one particular part of preparing for this holiday.
If any Jewish people out there need a Gentile to help with a Chametz contract, please feel free to call on me!
I already have a sample contract, which I got from a friend of mine in Israel when I helped him with this exact process. Or if you have your own contract, I’d be happy to look that over too. No money will change hands, but I will be more than happy to own any of your Chametz items during the Pesach period.
For fellow Gentiles out there, what this means is that during the time of Passover, Jewish people aren’t allowed to own any leavened products. I originally learned about this as a kid – growing up my family had a lot of Jewish friends. When we started home-schooling, we also spent several years learning Jewish traditions & celebrating holidays with our Jewish friends & neighbors. For that reason I’ve always felt a special kinship with the Jewish people. (In fact, for some reason as a toddler, I got it in my head somehow that my family was Jewish… but that’s a story for another day!) 🙂
I was reminded of this Passover practice recently when my doctors had me go on a corn-free allergen elimination diet. Most food that’s Kosher for Passover is free of corn, since the majority of European Jews avoid corn in addition to other grains during Passover. That makes buying my food SO much easier!! It’s been a huge blessing to me & my family, so I see Kosher for Passover food as a great act of human kindness – or a mitzvah – from the Jewish people to me.
Which is why I’m more than happy to repay their kindness by doing this small act of service for them in return.
The way it works is a Jewish person will sign a contract with a non-Jew – a gentile – wherein the non-Jew agrees to purchase all of the Chametz (aka any items that contain leavening or certain grains) during the period of Passover. No money necessarily has to change hands, it’s simply signing a contract that states I now own those products. Then if I don’t send them payment by a certain date – usually the day after Passover – then ownership reverts to the original seller, the Jewish person.
So for those who may need a non-Jew willing to do this, ta da! I’m here to help. 🙂 Feel free to send me an email – HLawver AT gmail DOT com. (Please replace “AT” and “DOT” with the appropriate symbol & punctuation.) Or send me a tweet – I’m @HLawver.
I’ll then put your name on the sample contract I have, sign it, date it, and send it to you. You can sign it, scan it, & send a copy back to me. Simple as that!
I’m thinking I may make this a yearly thing. We’ll see how it goes. 🙂
To all my Jewish friends, I hope you have a wonderful & blessed Pesach! And to all my non-Jew friends, Happy Easter!
Mazel tov, everybody!