to Zalman,
This was what the goyim believed then. They changed, we didn’t. Bemused is correct. Halacha doesn’t change, the interpretation and application of it changes. If you don’t believe this, then you better not sell your chametz this year.
source: Aish.com
“And for many centuries, since most Jews were able to deal with their chametz in this simple manner, there was no uniform, institutionalized method in Jewish life of making certain that chametz was not “possessed” by Jews during Passover.
This situation began to change in the late Middle Ages. The catalyst for this change was the fact that Jews were increasingly involved in the production and sale of liquor in Europe. The rabbis therefore invested a great deal of ingenuity and creativity in structuring the sale so it would be truly legal — and yet the Jew would be protected as far as his rights of repurchase after Passover was concerned. ” This was initially applied only to prolple whose business was in trading/selling food and in recent centuries, the kula was extended to all Jews and all chametz.
Th halacha didn’t change, the application and interpretation did.