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For those of you hearty enough to come to shul on the seventh day of Pesach, I want to share with you a love story\\u2014in fact a Pesach double love story.\\xa0 But to appreciate this double love story, we need first to talk about halakha, Jewish law.\\xa0 When was the last time that happened in a sermon?\\xa0

The Torah commands us to have no chametz in our possession during the holiday of Pesach. \\xa0Chametz is\\xa0 defined as five species of grain: wheat, barley, spelt, rye, and oats. \\xa0It is not just that we can\\u2019t eat chametz.\\xa0 It is also that we cannot have chametz, cannot own chametz. \\xa0Our homes have to be chametz-free.

Now we have all had the experience, when cleaning our house for Pesach, of finding in the back of the food pantry a stale box of crackers with the expiration date of February 2020.\\xa0 We happily dispose of the stale crackers grateful for the impetus Pesach gives us to do a deep cleaning of our kitchen once a year.

But what do we do with all the chametz that is fresh, the fresh boxes of pasta and crackers?\\xa0 It would be wasteful to throw out perfectly good food.\\xa0 So our tradition has evolved this legal fiction called mechirat chametz, selling our chametz to a gentile, to a person who is not commanded to have no chametz in their home. \\xa0Dan loves this mitzvah.\\xa0 Starting around Thanksgiving, he will announce that it is time to start selling our chametz for Pesach. \\xa0\\xa0This year Dan sold our chametz to our wonderful receptionist Rhiannon.\\xa0 Since she is not Jewish, she is allowed to own as much chametz as she wants.\\xa0 She owns the chametz of the members of Temple Emanuel who empowered Dan to sell to her. \\xa0Theoretically Rhiannon is legally allowed to enter your home, go to your basement, eat your crackers and pretzels, drink your beer, imbibe your scotch.\\xa0 But it is a legal fiction.\\xa0 It would never happen.\\xa0 The point of this legal fiction is to gesture towards two competing values.\\xa0 One, no chametz during Pesach. Two, don\\u2019t waste food.\\xa0 When the holiday is over tomorrow night, Dan will buy back your chametz from Rhiannon.\\xa0 As a result of this legal maneuver, you did not own any chametz on Pesach, and you did not waste perfectly good food.

What does this dry legalism have to do with a love story?\\xa0 Last week the Journal had a story about the halachic problems posed by observant dog owners during Pesach.\\xa0 Dog food is rife with chametz.\\xa0 It is made of forbidden grains.\\xa0 It is true of course that we don\\u2019t eat dog food.\\xa0 But the legal prohibition is not just not to eat it, but also not to have it in our possession. \\xa0Feeding our beloved dog Rover means having chametz in our homes. \\xa0What is an observant dog owner to do?

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