AKO Association of Kashrus Organizations post pesach 5784 list of stores for shopping and purchasing chometz products
Introduction:
- The following memo provides important information about nמץ שעבר עליו הפסn at various establishments. In general, it is difficult to make definitive statements about the acceptability of purchasing chametz from specific stores after Pesach because of practical and halachic ambiguities.
First, it is not easy to establish Jewish or non-Jewish ownership. Nonetheless, in this paper we have assumed that publicly traded companies may be treated as non-Jewish entities since the majority of potential stockholders are not Jewish.
Secondly, even if a product is sold in a non-Jewish store, it may be חמץ שעבר עליו הפסח if the distributor is Jewish. Determining the identity of the distributor is a formidable task because this information is proprietary and is not readily available. A recent added complication is that a large Jewish-owned distributor is in the process of exiting the business of supplying supermarkets, which raises questions about prior assumptions especially regarding the status of Target stores. We recommend that each Rav visit their local Target store and speak with their grocery merchandising manager to determine the distributor used by each department (e.g., produce, dairy, frozen, shelf stable items).
Thirdly, while chametz that is delivered after Pesach to a Jewish establishment is not חמץ שעבר עליו הפסח, it is difficult to determine the arrival date of any given product, as the turnaround time is generally unknown. Nonetheless, some Poskim maintain that if there is a safek when product was delivered, the principle of ספק דרבנן לקולא applies, while others hold that ספק דרבנן לקולא is not applicable in this situation for various reasons.
Finally, some Jewish companies participate in a mechiras chametz, but there are divergent opinions among Poskim about the validity of a sale of a company that is operating on Pesach. Furthermore, the sale will not be effective for chametz acquired on Pesach because one cannot sell a דבר שלא בא לעולם. To address these concerns, some Poskim recommend selling the entire company rather than the chametz, but this too is a matter of dispute if this is acceptable.
Our goal is not to recommend buying or not buying chametz from any particular establishment. Additionally, it is beyond the scope of our mission to investigate the suitability of any given mechirah. Rather, each kashrus organization or Rav must formulate their own set of standards and guidelines for the purchase of chametz. Once that is done, this memo will provide information that will be helpful in determining which stores fall into the categories of acceptable or not acceptable sources for the purchase of chametz after Pesach.
(Lastly, in our fast-paced evolving economy, consumers should remember to pause automatic subscriptions through Amazon (Subscribe & Save), Instacart (Auto Order) etc of chametz products.)
Categories of Establishments
Below are seven general categories of establishments with lists of stores that fall into each specific category.
A. Non-Jewish Ownership
Publicly traded company or non-Jewish ownership, and does not use a Jewish distributor
Unequivocally acceptable to purchase chametz at these locations after Pesach
Aldi
BJ's Wholesale Club
Kmart
Costco
CVS
Duane Reade
Hannaford
Lidl
Publix
Rite Aid
Sam's Club
Trader Joes
Walgreens
Walmart
Wawa
Wegmans
Whole Foods
B. Uses Jewish Distributor
Publicly traded company or non-Jewish ownership
Uses a Jewish distributor who sells their shares (not only a mechirah on their chametz) before Pesach but continues to operate on Pesach
D'Agostino Markets
Gristedes Foods
Food Emporium
Key Food
Safeway - see below
Foodway Supermarket.
Kroger
Stop and Shop
Winn Dixie
The kosher aisle at Safeway is stocked by a kosher certified supplier who sells their chametz and is closed for Pesach. [See also "Albertson's" below).
C. Franchised Stores
Stores are individually owned, and it is necessary to research each store's ownership
7-Eleven, Starbucks (Kiosks), Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins, Krispy Kreme, Carvel, Cinnabon etc
Shoprite.
Some stores are Jewish owned and arranged for their own mechirah. Additionally, see discussion below about Wakefern which supplies all ShopRite stores.
The following ShopRite stores that have Jewish ownership have an upgraded mechirah that includes selling of the business:
ShopRite of Paramus 24 Route 4 East & Forest Ave. Paramus, NJ 07652
ShopRite of Englewood 40 Nathaniel Place Englewood, NJ 07631
ShopRite of Avenue I 1080 McDonald Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11230
ShopRite of Gateway Center 590 Gateway Drive Brooklyn, NY 11239
D. Jewish Owned Company - Type 1
Traditional mechiras chametz executed, but store is open on Pesach Price Chopper
E. Jewish Owned Company - Type 2
Mechiras chametz executed that includes selling of the operating business, but store is open on Pesach
Restaurant Depot/Jetro
F. Partial Jewish Ownership
Store and distributor are partially owned by Jews (i.e., less than 50%) and business operates on Pesach
The Jewish owners sell their shares (not only a mechirah of the chametz) to a non-Jew before Pesach
Since the majority of the company is owned by non-Jews, the Zecher Yitzchok (#8) and Chemed Moshe (quoted by Mishna Berurah, Sha'ar HaTziun 448:4) hold that חמץ שעבר עליו הפסח is batel 'rov if there is a majority of non-Jewish ownership, though Sha'ar HaTziun and others question this position.
Albertson's
Chains include Acme (see below), Jewel-Osco, Pavilions, Randall's,
Safeway (see below), Shaw's, Star Markets, Tom Thumb, Vons
The kosher aisles of Acme in PA, NJ, and New England and the kosher aisles of all Safeway stores are
stocked by a kosher certified supplier who sells the chametz and is closed for Pesach.
Wakefern........ which supplies all ShopRite stores
Wakefern Food Corporation is a cooperative which is owned by the ShopRite store owners, some of whom are Jewish and arranges transfer of Jewish ownership to non-Jewish partners.
G. Online Distributors
Online merchants, such as Amazon, Sam's Club and Walmart, are not Jewish-owned, but often serve as distributors for other businesses, some of whom are Jewish owned. The name of the supplier is generally posted on the website and consumers should make a reasonable effort to determine if the supplier is Jewish before purchasing chametz after Pesach.
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I am still trying to understand what the issue was with osem that didnt use 'shmurah' matszah meal. Can someon please explain to me the mekor for using shmurah all Pesach? It is only needed for the seder...
ReplyDeleteSome people have a minhag to be makpid all of Pesach. I don’t know the source or reason, but most people I know are, indeed, careful to use only shmura matza throughout. Given that many of the local stores only sell shmura matza for Pesach, I imagine that many (if not most) people in Lakewood have this hakpadah and appreciated the heads-up about non-shmura products.
DeleteThere is no such minhag. It is a mistake.
DeleteThere is a minhag to eat shmura matzah all pesach, because some think that the mitzvah kiyumis of eating matzah all pesach must be done with matzah shemura. I don't know why. But eating matzah meal products would not fulfill that mitzvah kiyumis anyway, and that is why there is no reason to use only shmura matzah meal.
This was another one of those tumults that are made by people who don't want to learn the halacha.
Neither was there ever a minhag to eat only glatt meat. Ashkenazim always ate "standard" kosher. However, in recent decades kashrus in the USA evolved to the point where only meat certified as glatt is acceptable as kosher simply because there are no generally reliable hechsherim on plain kosher meat. Similarly, it seems that people have an impression that only matzah marked "shmurah" is acceptable - not solely for the opportunity to possibly gain a mitzva keyumis, but because only those matzos are adequately supervised to not have a chashash chimutz.
DeleteJust To add it IS Shmura from lisha!
DeleteSo in Lakewood are making thism minhag theirs? Most people growing up did not have this minhag of shmura all Pesach.
ReplyDeleteAlmost everybody ate gebroxt in the Alte Heim. Almost everybody, yeshivish, Litvish chassidic, Rebbes, etc. Chatam Sofer specifically ate noodle kugel.all days, even erev pesach afternoon.
ReplyDeleteThis is a purely modernish invention.
There were very very few who kept their matzot in plastic bag, lest a drop of water fall on them. Even though plastic wasn't invented till post war days.
And some very very few who didn't eat matzot at all outside the seder itself, to preserve the taam taste of matzot.
Chabad never ate gebrokts. It's a teshuva from the Baal Hatanya.
DeleteChabad also has a strange minhag of peeling skin off vegetables and fruit.
DeleteWill you do that? Note, few lubavitchers do that nowadays, even shluchim of the Rebbe don't do that.
Many people peel all fruit and vegetables, not just Chabad. And nowadays too.
DeleteBut gebrokts is a psak of the ba'al hatanya, not just a minhag.
Peolpe need to start learning halacha and no just go along with yenem...Do what your father did . Chadash asur min hatorah...
ReplyDelete80% of Lakewood's fathers had no mesora, as their fathers were not frum or balei tshuva. If you are going based on Chadash asur min hatorah then you should not be eating machine matzos.
DeleteI don't know where you hang out, but the people in Lakewood I know had grandparents and great-grandparents who were completely frum. At least based on Shulchan Aruch. The newfangled Galician nonsense was strange to them, but that has nothing to do with frumkeit.
DeleteAnd chadash assur min hatorah has nothing to do with machine matzos. Proof: Ksav Sofer.
If you are an am haaretz you are better off keeping your mouth shut than making believe you know something when you just sound stupid and unlearned.
ReplyDeleteThe Mishna Berura in a few places (among them in the beginning of siman 460 and see biur halacha there) mentions that we are noheg to be machmir on shimur for the whole pesach. The reason has nothing to do with the GRA and mitzvas kiyumis rather yisroel kedoshim hem and are want to avoid any cheshash chimutz.
Anything you see in an anonymous comment; no matter how confident the person sounds, is quite often completely wrong. [Myself included, so please take out a sefer and look it up for yourself]
I looked it up it is actually 453 -4 . The biur halacha only brings down the gr'a who was makpid to eat shmura the entire pesach. The be'er hativ brings down the 'Yisroel kedosahim' and midin you dont need shmura all Pesach but otherwise in mishe brurua there is nothing about the chumra of having shmura all Pesach. Again most people parents did not have shmura all Pesach. It could be that people should ask before taking Shmura all Pesach...Not just go with the flow...
DeleteWhat is known as 'non-shmura' nowadays is usually only shmura mish'as lisha. It does not have the added chumra of shmura mish'as ketzirah. It is not the same as בצקות של נכרים.
DeleteBut the MB notwithstanding, poskim and storybooks alike show that people did not eat shmura matzah, in general, for the entire YT. Only nowadays, when we are much richer than we used to be, can we permit ourselves to do so. And it is correct to do so. But we should know that it is a chumra.
No am ha'artes but it is actually 453-4. The biur halacha brings down the gr'a that was makpid to have shmura all 8 days. The Be'er hatav says min hadin a person should be makpid and have shmura for the seder but 'yisroel kedoshim' and noheg to have all matzos shamor.
ReplyDeleteAgain is this the reason why so many in Lakewood only have shmura matzos? So many of their parents did not do this. Did anyone ask LOR if they should take on this chumra? People think it is asur to not have shmura other days...that is what happens when people make chumras..halacha.
I am not sure what you are misunderstanding but the MB mentions it multiple places. Including both in 460 and 453. Indeed in the BH in 453 he does mention the GRA but in the MB 453-25 and 460-2 he says the poskim write that Klal Yisroel is noheg to have shimur for matzos all 8 days because of cheshash chametz.
DeleteWhat ANON 8:25 writes that in 460 he is discussing a different din of a non-jew baking matzos and not the din of shimur is also sadly mistaken. That is not 2 different dinim but all one of din of shimur. In fact the MB in 453 himself says see what I wrote in 460.
I do not know the metzius bezman hazeh and I do not know what the complaint against Osem was. The one thing I do know is that the the minhag of being makpid on shmurah matzah throughout the whole Pesach is not some sort of new fangeled chumra as you and seemingly many others mistakenly believe, but rather what klal yisroel has been noheg for doros.
I am anon 8:25. You’re so terribly mistaken. The word ‘shimur’ in relation to matzah has three possible applications- from the time of harvesting; from the time of milling; and from the time of kneading. In 453:25 the MB in the last few lines explicitly says this: “Yisrael Kedoshim Heim, and have the custom to do “shimur “ for all of the matzos (I.e. not only the matzos mitzva) from the time of milling, and at the very least from the time of kneading”. So you can be ‘kadosh’ and make sure that all of your matza - even non-matzah mitzvah- was kneaded by a Jew - and you would still be a ‘kadosh’!! And you would be a kadosh if all of your matza was Shmura from the time of the milling, too. If this isn’t clear enough for you I don’t know what else I can do.
DeleteFollowing up , The mishneh brurah does not bring down this chumrah of shmura all 8 days...
ReplyDeleteWith great respect, your understanding of the Mechaber/MB Siman 460 is sadly incorrect. The halacha stated by the Mechaber is that the Matzos Mitzvah should not be kneaded/baked by a non-Jew. The MB then states that the ‘other matzos’ we eat on Pesach do not need ‘shimur’, and they may be kneaded/baked by a non-Jew. ‘Shimur’ here is directly referring to the actual creation of the matzah, and ‘non-shimur’ in this context means allowing a non-Jew to do the kneading/baking as long as a Jew is ‘being mashgiach on him’. The MB states that this means the ‘other matzos’ (not being eaten l’sheim mitzvas matzah’) do not need ‘shimur’, and they may be kneaded/baked by a non-Jew. ‘Shimur’ here is directly referring to the actual creation of the matzah, and ‘non-shimur ’ in this context means allowing a non-Jew to do the kneading/baking as long as a Jew is ‘being mashgiach on him’. The MB then continues and says that ‘Yisrael kedoshim heim’ and that as such no matzah should be made by a non-Jew.
ReplyDeleteEarlier (Siman 453) the Mechaber writes that at the very least the flour from which matzas mitzva is made should be from the time of the milling. Remarkably he permits even flour from the market place to be used in an emergency! (The MB immediately notes that such a thing is totally unacceptable today.)The entire focus, as in 460, is on matzas mitzva.
Today, all matzah made for Pesach is ‘Shmura mi’she’as techina (milling)’. As such it is absolutely acceptable to eat this matzah all Pesach. The GR’A also would allow this practice according to many understandings of his shita, which is too long to discuss here.
In short, at $45 a pound (often with few shleimim, which is an entirely different discussion) there are good reasons to eat regular matzah - which is actually ‘shmurah’ from the techina- throughout Pesach. Those who wish to follow the GR’A according to the most stringent understandings of his shita of course should do so.
Problem is not shmura, it's not even 18 minutes. Meaning, machines run all day without cleaning
ReplyDeleteSorry totally NOT true about machine matzos. Before you take such terrible accusations how about finding out about the changing of everything every 18 minutes on machinew matzos. From what I understand even Manishevits gets a total change every 18 minutes. People like m,aking chumras halcacha oyy Osem has mata maeal that isnt shmura.. that sounds like am aratzus...
DeleteIn a Nutshell All Matza Today is Shmurah Mshas Lisha..
ReplyDeleteAll kosher for Pesach matza - from Streits, Manischewitz, whatever - is Shmura mi’she’as techina.
DeleteTarget Store Brand Products Should not be a problem anywhere...
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know anything about the shoprite in Brookdale, (bloomfield, nj)
ReplyDelete