[Avodah] When Bittul Chometz precedes Mechiras Chometz

[Akiva Miller]

.
R' Ben Waxman wrote:

> I asked around with several rabbanim and they told that "Truth
> of the matter is, once you sell your chameitz there is no real
> need to do a bedika. Anything in your house, whether you know
> about or not, is owned by the non-Jew."
>
> The question that came up for me later was "OK, so we do a bedika
> anyway because that is the custom. But why say a bracha?".

I suspect that you misunderstood those rabbanim, and what they meant
was that once you sell your chameitz there is no *d'Oraisa* need to do
a bedika. We do the bedika anyway because it is a Chiyuv D'Rabanan,
and that's why we say the bracha.

This is actually a very old question, usually phrased as: "If I do
Bitul, why do I need a Bedika also?" I concede that the *main* answer
to this is that the Bitul might not be sincere, but that is not the
only reason.

Mishneh Brurah 431:2 writes: "Also: Because people are used to chometz
all year long, if there is still some in his house and his possession,
they made a gezera because he might forget and eat it."

Some may question what I am writing in this post, and they will point
out that Mechira is more effective than Bedika, because (as RBW wrote)
Mechira gets rid of ALL the chometz, whereas Bedika only gets rid of
the chometz that we found. But this is an error, in my opinion,
because the concern raised by the MB was that one might happen to come
across some chometz, and thoughtlessly eat it. Mechira will NOT
prevent this. Mechira will ONLY remove the chometz from one's
ownership, but it will not help against forgetfullness.

I would like to close by showing that Bedikah and Mechira BOTH have
strengths that the other lacks, and that is why people should do both:
Mechira removes all chometz from ownership, regardless of where it
might be, and (I think) regardless of my sincerity, but if I didn't
clean the house well enough I may have left some around. Bedika
removes (or greatly reduces) the chance that I might come across some
chometz accidentally, but the chometz that I didn't find is still in
my ownership.

A better question to ask, I think, might be: If I have sold my
chometz, why do I also need the BITUL? After all, the Mechira already
removed ALL chometz from my possession, and there's nothing left for
me to nullify! (Hmmmm... I wonder if that might be what RBW had
intended to type!)

Akiva Miller