The Newly Inducted Chametz Police

Pesach time annually brings out the OCD in most of us. Besides for the level of cleaning and preparation we do, we also have the craziest of stringencies and things we are each careful about, with each year intriducing newer and crazier stringencies.

This year's winner, so far, by my nomination, is the newly formed "Chamtez Police" division of the Tiberias Religious Council.

While many religious towns and cities have arranged with Mekorot (the company responsible for Israel's water distribution) in recent years to receive the water supply from cisterns rather than from the Kinneret during Pesach, not all have and not all can. Some continue to receive their water from the Kinneret.

What's the problem with receiving water from the Kinneret? There is no real problem with it, but it is an extra level of avoidance of chametz, out of concern that a tourist might toss some bread, or other chametz (eg. might spill some beer), into the Kinneret on pesach. While chametz is able to be nulled before Pesach,, by having a majority against it, on pesach itself chametz cannot be nulled by a majority.

So, while the bread thrown into the Kinneret before Pesach is not a concern, the bread thrown in on Pesach is a concern to the neurotic among us. So, communities make arrangements with Mekorot to change the water source for the duration of Pesach. A different way around this problem is what some people do by collecting water before Pesach in large containers for use over Pesach, and not using water from the water company at all during Pesach. I cannot even imagine how this would work for a large family for an entire week, but some people do this.

Tiberias, receiving their water from the Kinneret, and with their ever-growing religious and haredi communities, is getting even more neurotic about the water concern this year. The religious council has recruited and appointed "Chametz Police" to walk around the Kinneret, on Chametz Patrol, looking for tourists who might be throwing their bread or beer into the water. They will be distributing pamphlets to different areas, explaining what the issue is and asking people to be careful and not throw their bread into the water. (source: NRG)

It is a bit of a ridiculous attempt, considering there is absolutely no way they can keep an eye on everyone the entire time. No matter how many of these guys they recruit who will be willing to walk around different areas, there is no way they can see everyone all the time, and there is no way they can be everywhere all the time. And it is not just the Kinneret, but all the rivers that dump into the Kinneret. And if they are this concerned about it, then even missing one person or one incident is the same as missing 100 people or 100 incidents.

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