Vaad Recommendations for Purchasing Chametz After Pesaḥ 2026

This is the updated Vaad List for 2026

Vaad HaRabbonim of Raritan Valley

Purchasing Chometz After Pesach 2026

It is forbidden to eat or derive benefit from overt chometz that was owned by a Jew during Pesach. Overt chometz includes items such as cereal, cookies, crackers, pretzels, grains, some alcoholic beverages, and flour. Products that contain vinegar, such as mayonnaise, ketchup, and mustard, may be purchased in America, since it is likely that the vinegar is not chometz.

The following is a partial list of local stores and their status regarding the purchase of chometz after Pesach:

  1. All Vaad supervised stores are acceptable for the purchase of chometz. The Vaad encourages the community to patronize local kosher establishments whenever possible.

  2. Dunkin’ Donuts on Raritan Avenue, under Vaad supervision, is acceptable for purchasing chometz. However, baked items should not be purchased before 9:35 PM on Thursday, April 9, to avoid benefiting from melacha performed on Yom Tov. In general, one should wait one hour after Shabbos or Yom Tov, year-round, before purchasing baked goods from Dunkin’ Donuts.

  3. The following supermarkets and their suppliers are non-Jewish-owned, and chometz may be purchased immediately after Pesach:

    • Acme Markets: (note: All the local Acme Markets have closed)

    • Aldi

    • BJ’s

    • Costco

    • CVS

    • Duane Reade (Walgreens)

    • H Mart

    • Sam’s Club

    • SuperFresh

    • Target (non‑frozen chometz items only; frozen items are supplied by C&S, a Jewish‑owned distributor)

    • Trader Joe’s

    • Walgreens

    • Walmart (in‑store purchases; online purchases are discussed below),

    • Wegmans

    • Whole Foods

  4. SuperFresh in Highland Park is non‑Jewish‑owned; however, its current supplier is C&S, a Jewish‑owned distributor. A reputable Beis Din arranged the sale of C&S to a non‑Jew for the duration of Pesach. Accordingly, it is justifiable to purchase chometz from SuperFresh immediately after Pesach.

  5. ShopRite operates as a franchise, with each store individually owned. While most locations are owned by non‑Jews, some have Jewish ownership. Purchasing chometz from a Jewish‑owned ShopRite is clearly prohibited after Pesach. ShopRite stores in the following locations are owned by non‑Jews: Aberdeen, Bound Brook, Chatham, East Brunswick, East Windsor, Edison, Elizabeth, Lawrenceville, Livingston, Marlboro, Millburn, Morristown, Neptune, Somerset, Springfield, Union, and West Orange (partial list). ShopRite is supplied by a cooperative known as Wakefern, which has some Jewish ownership. Nonetheless, it is justifiable to purchase chometz immediately after Pesach from the non-Jewish stores because the majority of Wakefern shareholders are non‑Jewish, and according to some poskim, Jewish ownership is batel b’rov (see Shut Zecher Yitzchok 8, and Mishna Berura, Shaarei Tzion 448:4, quoting Chemed Moshe).

  6. Purchasing chometz from the establishments listed above in Parts 4 and 5 relies on various halachic leniencies.  Those who prefer to avoid those halachic leniencies should wait until Tuesday, May 5, to purchase chometz from these establishments

  7. Online retailers such as Amazon.com and Walmart.com may sell products either from their own inventory or from third‑party suppliers. Chometz from their own inventory is acceptable. However, products supplied by third‑party sellers may originate from Jewish‑owned companies. Customers should therefore make a reasonable effort to determine whether the supplier is Jewish‑owned.

  8. Non‑chometz items (e.g., fruits, vegetables, eggs, cooking oil, etc.) may be purchased from any store, whether Jewish‑ or non‑Jewish‑owned.

  9. Alcoholic beverages (excluding wine) may not be purchased from a Jewish‑owned store until after Shavuos unless the chometz was properly sold, since inventory turnover in liquor stores is slower than in supermarkets.

The Halchot of Pesach

Here are two documents avout the Halachot of Pesach. The first covers making matzah for Pesach. You can see the steps we went through to bake the Sephardi Shmura Matzah that you can buy from our website.

The second document is about kashering your kitchen for Pesach. It covers kashering vessels, ovens, and appliances. The second part of this document is about doing work on erev Pesach. This year, erev Pesach is Shabbat, so there are special halachot that apply and we will soon publish in a new series.

Hilchot Pesach — Baking Matzah
Hilchot Pesach — Kashering for Pesach

Rice on Pesach

Why do some communities have the custom of refraining from eating kitniyot on Pesach?

We need to first clarify that rice and other kitniyot are not hametz because only foods derived from the five species of grain (i.e., wheat, barley, oats, spelt, rye) can become hametz. In Gemara Pesachim daf 114, it discusses two different dishes that are brought to the table on the seder night. Rav Hunah says we use leeks and rice, and Rava would also look for leeks and rice since Rav Hunah established it. From there we learn that we don't accept Rav Yochanan Ben Nuri’s approach which says that rice is considered a grain. This is the conclusion of all the poskim – to permit eating rice on Pesach (see שו"ת הריב"ש Siman 420). This is also the ruling of the Shulhan Aruch in siman 453 that says you are allowed to cook a dish made with rice on Pesach.

However, the Rama disagrees with the Shulhan Aruch and follows the Tur and Mordechi who say that you cannot eat rice on Pesach. This is indeed the custom of Ashkenazim.

The Mishnah Berurah brings two reasons for this custom. The first reason is that many times some grain is mixed in the sacks of rice, and it is very difficult to separate the grain from the rice. The second reason is that sometimes legumes are ground into flour and baked into bread. Some people may find it difficult to differentiate between bread made from rice and bread made from the five grains, and they might go further and eat bread made of grain because they will think it is permissible, just like bread made from rice.

However, this restriction of legumes and rice applies only for kitniyot that was explicitly written to be forbidden, or for something that was accepted as a custom to not eat throughout the years. Other types of food, even if they look very similar to things that we don't eat on Pesach, are permissible. Nevertheless, we need to inspect to make sure that these foods aren't contaminated with hametz.

Based on that, Harav Moshe Feinstein says that one is allowed to eat peanuts on Pesach, despite the fact that it has a lot of similarities to other kitniyot, since there is no custom forbidding it. However, if a person lives in a place where there is a custom to not eat peanuts, he cannot nullify this custom.

The following is the list of foods that Ashkenazi communities across the world accept as kitniyot and are not eaten on Pesach: 

Other Grains

  • Rice

  • Alfalfa

  • Millet

  • Sorghum

  • Corn

Non-Legume Seeds

  • Fenugreek seeds

  • Sunflower seeds

  • Mustard seeds

  • Buckwheat (kusemet, not to be confused with kusmin – spelt – which is a cereal grain that can become hametz)

  • Cumin

  • Poppy seeds

  • Flaxseed

  • Clover seed

  • Caraway seeds

  • Hemp seeds

  • Sesame seeds

  • Lupine seeds

Legumes

  • Black-eyed peas

  • Chickpeas

  • Peas

  • Vetch

  • Soy

  • Mung beans

  • Lentils

  • Fava beans

  • Lupin beans

  • Tamarind fruit

Products that are made from kitniyot – corn flakes, corn flour, and rice cakes, for example – are also included in this custom. Saffron was originally called “karkom” in Hebrew and is permitted, and turmeric, the Modern Hebrew karkom, is also permitted, but if there is concern that wheat was mixed into the saffron, it is forbidden. Mustard and flaxseed are not kitniyot, but the custom is to forbid them because they grow in pods like kitniyot. Dill and coriander are not kitniyot, but one must examine them well because they often contain wheat.