Wednesday night marks the start of the Jewish holiday of Passover. The week-long holiday commemorates the Biblical exodus from Egypt. Just before Passover, Jews are supposed to rid their homes of bread and other so-called "leavened" foods. But in Israel... stores and factories own millions of dollars worth of the stuff. So instead of throwing it all away, they rely on a creative solution. Correspondent Daniel Estrin explains.

Estrin: The biblical story goes a little like this. in their haste to flee Egypt, the ancient Israelites couldn't wait around for their bread to rise. they baked unleavened bread and took it with them. and that's why, on Passover, observant Jews don't eat bread or any leavened foods – called hometz in Hebrew - and Rabbi Yona Metzger, one of Israel's two chief rabbis, says the prohibition isn't only on eating hometz.

Metzger: "According to Jewish law, we don't allow to keep in houses, business, every place we are owners of this place, hometz. hometz - bread, biscuits, beer also - everything that comes from flour with water.

Estrin: So what do Israeli Jews do with all the bread they haven't eaten by the time Passover rolls around? They sell it... at least metaphorically ... to this man.

Hussein Jaber

Estrin: Meet Hussein Jaber, a 44-year-old Muslim catering manager at a Jerusalem hotel. For more than a decade, he has been the country's sole buyer of all unwanted bread products.

Jaber: "I am the richest man in the country during Passover. It all goes to me."

Estrin: Jaber looks through last year's bread contract. it includes pages and pages of signatures from Israel's supermarket chains, food companies, prisons, and private citizens. they all sign over their leavened foods to the country's chief rabbis. and the chief rabbis agree to sell it all to Jaber.

Jaber: "All the leavened food of the state of Israel, including the factories, the food on its way to Israel, on airplanes, in boats, in houses. It's all mine."

Estrin: Maybe in a legal sense ... though technically, he never takes possession of it. the original owners just put their leavened foods out of sight. Jaber pays an advance of about $ 5,000 on what's estimated to be $ 150 million worth of bread. By the end of Passover, he's supposed to come up with the rest. If he doesn't, the sale is cancelled...he gets his money back, and the ownership of the food is automatically returned to the owners.

Jaber flashes a wide grin when he says that... somehow, he never manages to come up with all the money, but he insists the contract is no game.

Jaber: "I take it seriously. It's an official document."

Estrin: Jaber doesn't make any money off of the deal. but he does gain some prestige. his office wall is covered in framed photos of him posing with the likes of Shimon Peres, Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Olmert.

Jaber: "Look, I know one thing, if you can help out, why not? I do it happily and with honor."

Mr.Jaber's 'wall of fame'

Estrin: Now, even though Jaber owns a lot of bread this time of year, he actually enjoys eating matzah - the unleavened wafers that Jews eat during Passover.

Jaber: "One time in the year you see something different than bread. It's nice. I buy it for the house, for the kids."

Estrin: Another Arab Israeli, Hussein Shakra, says its one of his favorite foods. His Jewish friend Michelle thinks that's a little odd.

Shakra: "I go to visit my parents in jaffa. when i went there last week, they gave me a box of matzah to eat."
Michelle: "Your mom gives you a big box of matzah? You're a very strange Muslim.

Estrin: But many not. In fact, it's a big seller at this supermarket in the Arab village of Abu Gosh. Ismail is a cashier here.

Ismail: "All of the Arabs like to eat matzahs, because we're not required to do it. The Jews have a religious obligation, so it's harder for them. Just as the Jews like our traditional foods, we like the matzahs."

Ismail, the cashier with matzah

Estrin: A Jewish customer listening at the register raises his eyebrows. You like matzah? He asks the cashier. Then the customer explains his Passover eating habits. He says: after the 5th or 6th day, I'm sick of matzah and then I feel like getting some pita bread. so Ii come to Abu Gosh... in a way, it's a small taste of middle east interdependence.

For The World, I'm Daniel Estrin, Abu Gosh, Israel.