L & L - Acharei Mos-Kedoshim - Beer After Pesach Debate

1
‫בס"ד‬
The Great Beer After Pesach 5778 Debate

A case study in the issue of chametz after Pesach
1. http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20160214/SMALLBIZ/302149997/new-yorks-beer-
king-simon-bergson-surveys-his-empire-built-on-coors-light-corona-and-other-brands
February 14, 2016 12:01 a.m. Updated 02/17/2016
A hyperactive Coney Island kid figured out how to beat Budweiser

Simon Bergson's Manhattan Beer Distributors is the largest beer wholesaler in New
York City
By Rosa Goldensohn
….Bergson, who was born in a displaced-persons camp in Austria in 1948 and is in the habit of
holstering a .380 semiautomatic pistol under his cardigan, commands the dogs in Yiddish. “To lie
down is platz,” he said. Still, the canine training is the closest thing Bergson, 67, has to a hobby….
Milton Bergson, born Mordechai, worked for five years as a slave laborer in the Nazi concentration
camps of Sachsenhausen, Mauthausen and Auschwitz. In New York, he learned the garment
business, and built up a factory of 30 tailors making suits for dead Appalachian miners to wear in
their coffins. “The workmanship wasn’t so terrific,” Simon Bergson said. But as his father would say,
“The customer never complained.”
“I was enjoying Tucson; it was mellow, it was nice, it was lovely,” Bergson remembered. “My father
desperately wanted me back in New York.”
Simon Bergson’s parents both came from the Polish town of Ciechanów, though they did not know
each other there. “My mother [Nadzia] came from a fairly well-off background,” Bergson said. “She
had maids in the house cleaning up, she studied violin, she used to go ice skating in the wintertime.
She went to the public high school, which was very unusual for a Jewish girl pre-war because
usually they went to the Jewish schools, because I guess my grandfather was some form of nobility
because he owned the general store in town.”
In Auschwitz, Milton was able to get to the women’s camp on Sundays. Looking for “the girls from
Ciechanów” at Birkenau, he found Nadzia, nine years his junior. After the war, they returned to their
town to look for relatives. All of hers were dead; three of his seven siblings survived. Then began a
four-year journey to America and an eventual landing in Brooklyn.
‫שו"ת אגרות משה אורח חיים חלק א סימן קמט‬ .2

‫ מע"כ ידידי הרה"ג מהר"ר נחמן‬.‫בחנונים חשודים לאיסור חמץ שמכרו חמצם לנכרי ע"י הרב כנהוג ה' אייר תשי"ז‬
.‫יוסף גאלדשטיין שליט"א‬
2
‫בדבר החנונים שמוכרים חמצם ע"י הרב כנהוג והוא חשוד לעבור לסחור בחמץ בפסח ונוטל כל מה שצריך למכור‬
‫ פשוט שאין זה בטול על המכירה כי מצד תנאי המכירה להעכו"ם נכתב בשטר‬,‫בפסח מאלו החמץ שמכר ע"י הרב‬
‫המכירה שמה שיטול יהיה כקונה אז מהעכו"ם ויצטרך לנכות מהסך שחייב לו העכו"ם וממילא אין כאן שום בטול על‬
.‫המכירה ומה שלא לקח הוא של העכו"ם‬
‫ שהוא ודאי עבר‬,‫ובלא זה אין שייך לבטל קנין שכבר נעשה ואינו שוב בעלים על זה אלא הוא או כקונה מחדש או כגוזל‬
.‫על בל יראה כיון שקנה בין למקח בין לגזל אבל רק על מה שלקח בידו וקנה ולא על מה שנשאר‬
‫ דמה"ת נימא כן דאף שחשוד לעבור להנאתו כשאינו‬,‫ואין לומר שאיגלאי מילתא שלא מכר בלב שלם אלא שהערים‬
‫ הוא‬,'‫ ואף אם נימא שבזה"ז במדינה זו ליכא חזקה זו דבחולין דף ד‬.‫יכול בהיתר לא יעבור על מה שיכול לעשות בהיתר‬
,‫ ודאי לא נימא שבלבו לא רצה בההיתר‬,‫רק שלא יחליף שהוא לבקש תחבולות להיתר אבל על מה שעשה בהיתר ממש‬
.‫ משה פיינשטיין‬,‫ ידידו‬.‫ולכן ברור ופשוט שהמכירה קיימת וטוב עשה כתר"ה שהשתדל שימכרו חמצם‬
‫מפניני הרב עמ' פד‬ .3
4. https://oukosher.org/faqs/why-is-mechirat-chametz-for-a-supermarket-that-
continues-to-sell-chametz-during-pesach-a-valid-sale/
Why is mechirat chametz for a supermarket that continues to sell chametz during Pesach a valid
sale?
Good question. Many posekim fundamentally oppose the sale of Jewish-owned businesses that
sell chametz on Pesach. In stark contrast to the mechirat chametz of a halachically observant
Jew, the sale of a supermarket that is fully open for business on Pesach lacks the aura of
respectability. The seller is clearly not sincere about the sale. For this reason, Rabbi Joseph B.
Soloveitchik (1903-1993) and others considered sales involving supermarkets that sell chametz
to customers on Pesach to have no validity. Nonetheless, Rav Moshe (Iggerot Moshe, OC 1:149,
2:91 and 4:95) was the champion of this transaction. He put forward various arguments of
justification, one of which is that halachah does not take into consideration private thoughts
(devarim shebelev) that are not verifiable. Furthermore, it is conceivable that the storeowner
prefers to transfer ownership of his chametz to a non-Jew so his religious customers can shop
freely in his establishment after Pesach, even though he intends to continue selling chametz
merchandise during Pesach. The OU follows the more stringent position of Rabbi Soloveitchik.

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1

The Great Beer After Pesach 5778 Debate

A hyperactive Coney Island kid figured out how to beat Budweiser

‫שו"ת אגרות משה אורח חיים חלק א סימן קמט‬ .2

‫מפניני הרב עמ' פד‬ .3

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