Israeli store owner loses £10,000 burning his entire stock after forgetting to sell it before Passover

“During the chag, my rabbi came and asked me why no-one had come [to him] to sell my chametz this year – which was when I remembered.”

The idea of selling chametz – or leavened food forbidden during the Passover festival – to non-Jews is a well-established way of avoiding significant financial losses.

Jews are not allowed to own chametz during the festival and there is a ban on eating or making a profit from any chametz subsequently discovered in their possession.

Selling all the chametz in one’s possession to a non-Jew prior to Pesach and buying it back afterwards is a popular way of avoiding that problem.

The rabbi instructed that Gavriel had no choice but to destroy the chametz products, a decision Gavriel called a “Kiddush Hashem” or a sanctification of God’s name.

“We took out the chametz and completely burned it,” he said.

“I was left with a loss of NIS 50,000 but Jewish law is Jewish law. I don’t regret it.

"I hope God will make up my loss from somewhere else.”