Vaad Recommendations for Purchasing Chametz After Pesach

Vaad HaRabbonim of Raritan Valley Guidelines for Purchasing Chometz After Pesach 2024

One may not eat or derive benefit from overt chometz that was owned by a Jew during Pesach. Overt chometz includes cereal, cookies, crackers, pretzels, grains, and flour. Products that contain vinegar, such as mayonnaise, ketchup, and mustard, may be purchased since it is probable that the vinegar is not chometz. The following is a partial list of local stores and their status regarding the purchase of chometz.

  1. 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 Ave. which is under Vaad supervision, is acceptable for the purchase of chometz.  Nonetheless, baked items should not be purchased before  9:45 PM, Sunday, April 30th (so as not to benefit from melacha performed on Yom Tov).  In general, throughout the year, one should wait one hour after Shabbos or Yom Tov before purchasing baked products from Dunkin Donuts.

  3. The following supermarkets and their suppliers are non-Jewish owned. These are the preferred locations for the purchase of chometz: Aldi, BJ’s, Costco, CVS, Duane Read, H Mart, Rite Aid, Sam’s Club, Target non-frozen chometz items, Trader Joe’s, Walgreen’s, Walmart (in-store purchases, while online purchases are discussed in 5), Wegman’s and Whole Foods.

  4. The following supermarkets and/or their suppliers have some level of Jewish ownership. Nonetheless, because of various considerations, there are halachic justifications for purchasing chometz in some of these establishments. The stores are  listed in order of preference and the  explanations for the basis of  leniency are found in the footnotes: 

    1. Acme has a small percentage of Jewish ownership. Nonetheless,  there is halachic justification to purchase chometz in Acme after Pesach.

    2. ShopRite stores in these 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, West Orange. (This is a partial list.) Although Shoprite is supplied by a coop known as  Wakefurn which has partial Jewish ownership, there is justification to purchase chometz in these stores after Pesach .

    3. Stop & Shop: The Vaad recommends not purchasing chometz in Stop & Shop until Lag B’Omer, Sunday, May 26.

    4. Some Shoprite stores are Jewish-owned. (See above part “c” above for a list of non-Jewish stores. Other stores may not be presumed to be non-Jewish without further research.) Chometz should not be purchased in these stores until Lag B’Omer, Sunday, May 26.

  5. Online companies such as Amazon.com and Walmart.com sell products from their inventory or from suppliers. Chometz from their inventory is acceptable, but chometz from a supplier may come from a Jewish-owned company. Therefore, the customer must make a reasonable effort to determine whether the supplier is Jewish.

  6. Non-chometz items may be purchased from any Jewish or non-Jewish-owned store (e.g., fruit, vegetables, eggs, cooking oil, etc.)

  7. Alcoholic beverages (except for wine) may not be purchased until after Shavuos from a Jewish-owned store if the chometz was not sold. The beverage may be chometz, and the depletion of inventory in liquor stores is slower than in supermarkets. Locally, one may purchase alcoholic beverages from RiteAid in (Highland Park), which is a non-Jewish owned corporation.

Counting the Omer Cheat Sheets

As we do every year, We are once again making available for download a chart to help you remember to count Sefirat HaOmer. If you would like to print it out to keep in your siddur or on your fridge. You can download it from https://shalmon.com/sefira (pick your nusach). If you go to this page you will also see the current day’s count, with the beracha.

You can also get a Sefirat HaOmer app from Rusty Brick for your smartphone.: