High Court denies Chief Rabbinate request for panel on hametz in hospitals
The court decided on Sunday not to hold a new hearing on whether hospitals can ban patients and visitors from bringing in hametz on Passover, upholding its 2020 ruling.
By JEREMY SHARON‘EVEN DURING the dark days of the Holocaust, we find accounts of brave Jews who went to incredible lengths to obtain matzah.’(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
The High Court of Justice will not hold a hearing with an expanded panel of justices to deliberate the bringing hametz into hospitals over Passover, it decided Sunday.Last April, the High Court ruled that hospitals cannot ban patients and visitors from bringing in food products that are not kosher for Passover during Passover.Halacha strictly prohibits the consumption of hametz for the seven days (eight outside of Israel) of Passover, a restriction that many Jews adhere to, including those not strictly observant.In a majority ruling, Judges Uzi Vogelman and Ofer Grosskopf wrote that the ban harms the fundamental rights of autonomy of the individual, freedom of religion, dignity of patients and their right to self-determination and the exercise of their own choices and preferences.The Chief Rabbinate, which instituted the ban, had requested a new hearing with an expanded panel of justices.The decision was denounced by haredi (ultra-Orthodox) and religious-Zionist politicians.The decision “had not sufficiently taken into account the majority of the citizens of the State of Israel who refrain from consuming and coming into contact with hametz on Passover,” the Chief Rabbinate said.The ruling “damages the Jewish character of the State of Israel,” it said, adding that it would mean those who observe such laws would refrain from going to the hospital on Passover if they needed to because of the possibility of coming into contact with hametz, thereby endanger their own health.The Chief Rabbinate’s position was overly stringent, the religious-Zionist Ne’emanei Torah Va’Avodah organization said. The Chief Rabbinate had rejected compromise proposals on the issue, it said, adding that solutions within Halacha exist and have been used for years to address the problem.“Those who chose to side with the stringent position should address the other halachic position and not rule it out through flimsy arguments of religious persecution,” Ne’emanei Torah Va’Avodah said.United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni said his party would demand that the High Court reverse the decision and override legislation in any new coalition it might join.Interior Minister Arye Deri, the chairman of Shas, said he would demand passage of legislation that allows hospitals to decide whether to allow hametz on their premises.
