Responsa for Pesachim 16:19
Maharach Or Zarua Responsa
R. Hayyim Eliezer exchanged correspondence with R. Isaac b. Eliah. R. Hayyim Eliezer asks the following: Should those of us who have Gentile domestics not be exempt from making the search for leaven, before Passover, since the latter might accuse us of practicing witchcraft? It was for this reason that the sages abrogated the practice of overturning the couch of mourners.
R. Isaac b. Eliah replied that the search for leaven prior to the Passover, would not incite accusations of witchcraft from the Gentile domestics for the following reasons: (1) The search for leaven takes place in our own homes. (2) They know that leaven is strictly forbidden to us during Passover. (3) We burn all the Leaven in their presence.
We would most certainly abolish the requirement to search for leaven if a fear existed that the search might foment accusations of sorcery and witchcraft. It was for that reason that purging of the stove (before Passover) was discontinued in Province, as it arroused the Gentile populance to suspect us of sorcery.
R. Isaac b. Eliah replied that the search for leaven prior to the Passover, would not incite accusations of witchcraft from the Gentile domestics for the following reasons: (1) The search for leaven takes place in our own homes. (2) They know that leaven is strictly forbidden to us during Passover. (3) We burn all the Leaven in their presence.
We would most certainly abolish the requirement to search for leaven if a fear existed that the search might foment accusations of sorcery and witchcraft. It was for that reason that purging of the stove (before Passover) was discontinued in Province, as it arroused the Gentile populance to suspect us of sorcery.
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