QUESTION

A member of my shul wants to donate food to a food pantry that will be picking up during Chol HaMoed. Can they be mafkir (declare ownerless) the food and leave it on their porch for pick up before Pesach? My concern is that no one will know about the hefker (ownerless) status of the food—so does that really count as hefker?

ANSWER

I think that’s fine.

It is true that hefker cannot be done ba’lev (without any outward expression) (see Ran, Pesachim 1a, ד״ה ומהו), since devarim she’ba’lev einam devarim (unexpressed intentions are not legally significant). Nevertheless, taking