Abu Gosh resident Hussein Jabar is the state’s goy, the man who for the past 15 years has been buying the chametz from the Chief Rabbinate. Jabar spoke with Kol B’rama Radio’s Avi Maimon, explaining the process.
On erev yomtov he will arrive at the office of the Chief Rabbinate in Jerusalem and meet with the chief rabbis and finance minister. They will sign on the legal documents making the transaction legal and official.
How much will he pay you ask? Officials estimate the worth of the chametz is $150 billion and he is compelled to put down 100,000 NIS to close the deal, and he has been given a week’s time to raise the balance to take possession of the remainder. If he fails to do so he will return to the chametz to the rabbonim.
Jabar plays and important role, for he also purchases land from the Chief Rabbinate during Shmitah years.
When asked if he is familiar with his predecessor, who for many years bought the chametz until it was learned his mother was Jewish, Jabar assured Maimon that he is a goy mehadrin, with Muslim roots. He added that during yomtov he does visit some of the factories to see what he actually purchased, but added he looks at the chametz but does not use it.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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8 Responses
What if the goy wants only SOME of the hometz, but not all. Why isnt he entitled?
As far as the rabbinite having used a Jew to sell their chometz to prior to this guy, no surprise. The rabbinite is not reliable.
The rabbinate??????????????? 100% not reliable
#1, you are over on hotzaat shem ra and bizui talmidel chachamim. The problem is that if an Arab’s father is a Moslem he considers himself a Moslem and will even be mortally offended if he is told differently. There was also a case in Bene Beraq of a Jewish “Goy” shel Shabbat.
Thank you Avi K. You’re a holy yid and 100% right
There is a high possibility that unless his maternal ancestors came from outside of Eretz Yisrael in documentable times, he might be Jewish. When the Greeks, and the the Romans, and then the Arabs (and everyone else) conquered a country, the army usually consisted only of men. They never sent for the women (and given that travel was difficult, it’s not surprising they didn’t come). Between female “misyavanim’ and female slaves who weren’t freed (or shipped out elsewhere), there’s a strong chance that a goy with long roots in Eretz Yisrael may be Jewish.
Better to look for someone who is unlike to have Jewish roots, and whose ancestors only came in contact with Jews recently (sub-Saharan Africans from tribes with no Jewish connection and with purely African maternal DNA profiles, Australian Aboriginies – then you only have to check back a few centuries to be sure they’re really goyim).
Not surprising many people are unhappy about selling “real hametz” since you might be accidentally selling it to a descendant of a Jew. Indeed, not all communities had the minhag of selling hametz – or at least, not selling in through a “nominal” sale, as opposed to selling it to a goyim who carried it off an you never saw it again.
Thank you, Ahavasyisrael26. Akuperma, rabbanim generally will not sell chametz gamur except in cases of great loss because of possible problems with the seller’s intent (if the Goy came to you during Chol HaMoed and demanded his case of Chivas what would you think?)
Avi K, your claim that “rabbanim generally will not sell chametz gamur except in cases of great loss” is absolutely false. Maybe some rabbonim whom you know won’t do so, but the vast majority have no problem whatsoever with it. And if the goy does come and want his chometz, what sane person would have a problem giving it to him? Why would any sane person think of objecting? Adraba, let him take it! He will have to pay for it after Pesach, and we can use the money to buy new whiskey if we want.
Speaking of which, there’s a serious error in the article: “If he fails to do so he will return to the chametz to the rabbonim.” Chas vesholom! He won’t and can’t return the chametz. He will sell it to them, in an independent transaction that in no way negates the original one. He is simply flipping an investment, selling it for a bit more than he paid for it, just as one might do with a house or shares or anything else.
The fact that the buyer is the same person as the original seller is irrelevant; that happens with hedges all the time. One buys something in order to lock in a price, and then sells it back when one no longer needs the hedge. It never leaves the warehouse where it is stored, and everyone knows that there was never an intention to move it from that warehouse, and that the buyer only bought it in order to sell it later. Nobody thinks to challenge the transaction because of that!
I should add that my uncle used to be a liquor merchant, and when I was young I asked him once what he would do if the goy decided not to sell his warehouse back to him after Pesach. He said he would be delighted – he would have made several months worth of sales in one day! He wished it would happen, but being realistic he realised that the goy would want to sell it all back to him after Pesach, and he would have to agree to buy it, or else it would be impossible to find another goy to buy the chometz next year.