The Knesset, Israel’s parliament, passed a bill on March 6, 2023, enabling hospital administrators to ban hametz, or leavened goods, during the Passover holiday. The legislation was proposed by ultra-Orthodox MKs and cleared its first reading in a 51-46 vote during a special session organized to push the legislation through despite the upcoming Purim holiday. The bill gives hospital administrators the flexibility to determine “the special arrangements needed to ensure the patients hospitalized there can keep kosher for Passover.” This includes establishing protocols banning or limiting the entrance of hametz into the hospital building during the Passover holiday, among other measures.
Necessary Corrective or Religious Coercion?
The bill has sparked opposition from Jewish organizations and religious opposition MKs who warn that it could antagonize Jewish Israelis against religion and deepen long-standing secular-religious tensions over how to be Jewish in the Jewish state. The bill’s supporters, however, argue that it is a necessary corrective, overriding a 2020 High Court of Justice ruling that hospitals could not force security guards to search visitors’ bags for hametz during the week-long Passover holiday. The previous practice of banning hametz during Passover has been in place for years, with some institutions even instructing guards to search people’s bags for forbidden foods at the doors.
UTJ’s Initial Version of the Bill is Tempered Down
Initially, ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism (UTJ) proposed a much more stringent version of the bill that would have banned not only hametz but also any food not explicitly labeled “kosher for Passover” on its manufacturer’s label, or fresh produce, from being brought into a hospital. However, the Knesset’s Health Committee tempered down the bill, giving greater control to hospital directors to decide how to ensure that their facilities accommodate religious patients and visitors who cannot eat leavened goods on Passover.
The Court “Does Not Have the Authority”
UTJ MK Moshe Gafni, a longtime critic of the High Court, argued that the court “does not have the authority” to interfere with hospital administrator decisions to preserve kosher-for-Passover standards in their hospitals. Gafni and his party colleagues, as well as the coalition’s other ultra-Orthodox party, Shas, have long chafed at what they call the High Court’s heavy-handedness and interference in areas that touch on their observance-guided lifestyles.
Preserving the Status Quo Would Roll Back the Current Arrangement
Supporters of the bill argue that preserving the status quo would actually roll back the current arrangement to permit enforcing the kosher-for-Passover policy upon all hospital visitors, regardless of their observance level. Last year, the court issued a similar ruling regarding army bases. The issue of hametz in hospitals provided the catalyst for the previous government’s three-month crumble before the Knesset called snap elections.
Bill Cleared Its First Reading in the Knesset
The bill allowing hospitals to ban hametz for Passover during the Passover holiday has cleared its first reading in the Knesset. The bill gives hospital administrators the flexibility to determine the special arrangements needed to ensure that patients hospitalized there can keep kosher for Passover. Supporters of the bill argue that it is a necessary corrective, overriding a 2020 High Court of Justice ruling that hospitals could not force security guards to search visitors’ bags for hametz during the week-long Passover holiday. However, the bill has sparked opposition from Jewish organizations and religious opposition MKs who warn that it could antagonize Jewish Israelis against religion and deepen long-standing secular-religious tensions over how to be Jewish in the Jewish state.
