הלכה על פסחים 2:2

Rav Moshe takes it as a given that the potential for the “slight modifications” that make denatured alcohol potable are halachically significant. As Rav Frank notes, many of the great early-twentieth-century poskim doubted whether this potential renders denatured alcohol potable for mainstream society. While Rav Eliyahu Klatzkin (Devar Eliyahu 5) rules stringently, the Teshuvot Atzei Halevanon (17) is lenient and disregards the possibility of chemical restoration. The Teshuvot Minchat Elazar buttresses this lenient view with the observation of Tosafot (Pesachim 46b second s.v. Ho’il) that the Mishnah (Pesachim 2:2) allows benefiting from chametz that a non-Jew owned during Pesach, even though a Jew could easily have purchased the chametz from the non-Jew. Apparently, the feasibility of changing an item’s status is halachically irrelevant. The Minchat Elazar therefore permits one who fueled his car with gasoline that had alcohol mixed in to drive the car on chol hamo’eid Pesach, even though the alcohol can potentially be restored to a drinkable form by a chemical process.