Jerusalem – Minister of Religious Services Yakov Margi (Shas) is calling on the public to reduce to minimum the air pollution caused during the removal of chametz (leavened food) on the eve of Passover, and to avoid burning it in ways which are not environmentally friendly.
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The minister’s main request is to separate the leavened food from plastic products before throwing it in the fire, and to collect the chametz in paper bags only.
“Burning plastic bags releases toxic gas, which harms those conducting the mitzvah and the area’s residents,” the minister wrote, noting that “the children taking part in the chametz burning may suffer serious health risks.”
His suggested solution is “to collect the chametz in paper bags, rather than plastic or carton, which also emits heavy smoke that creates pollution within an urban area.”
Do that in NY too!
It may be a shaalah to use plastic anyway, as the biur is supposed to be done through burning but if plastic melts on it it will become nifsal me’achilas kelev through the plastic rather than the burning so they are right
#2 , that is very interesting. Where is your Mekor for that?
Thank you for not burning plastic!
When I was (much) younger…a few of the older men on the block would set a small fire in the street and the children would all bring out a few pieces of bread to burn, and that was it. Otherwise mother gathered the leavened products and let NYC Sanitation deal with it.
when is the last time you saw a paper bag in israel ?
Sounds like good advice. Why clean your house and then pollute the air?