Halakhah sobre Pessachim 2:13

Although the Gemara makes clear that one may benefit from chametz that is no longer ra’ui l’achilat kelev, the Rishonim debate the permissibility of actually eating it. The Rosh (Pesachim 2:1) cites opinions that one may even eat such chametz. He himself rejects this view, however, and rules that one may only benefit from such chametz (as explicitly stated in the Gemara); by eating it, one would “elevate” the chametz (achsheveih) from a non-food item to a food item. The basis for this is the Gemara’s (Shevuot 24b) ruling that if one swears not to eat an inedible item and subsequently eats it, he has then violated his oath because he has “elevated” that item to the status of food by consuming it. The Shulchan Aruch (O.C. 442:9; see Mishnah Berurah 442:43) rules in accordance with the Rosh.

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.