Israel wants to post ‘kosher’ guards at hospitals during Passover

The Israeli government told the Supreme Court yesterday that it intends to post “kashrut [kosher] security guards” at hospital entrances during the Passover holiday, “to ensure that no hametz (leavened food) is brought into the facilities”, reported Haaretz.

According to the paper, “the plan was revealed during a hearing on petitions against regulations that ban hametz at hospitals during Passover”, with the state’s attorney telling the justices: “There is a desire and an intent to create kashrut security guards.”

The petitions were filed before Passover by the Secular Forum and Adalah – the Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel.

“The initial position of the Health Ministry,” reported Haaretz, “was that the instructions regarding the introduction of hametz is issued to each hospital separately, insofar as it wishes to hold a kashrut certificate and undertakes to comply with the rules of the Rabbinate.”

Read: Israel bans patients bringing non-kosher bread into hospitals during Passover

“In the context of Passover, there is a sweeping ban on bringing any food at all into the hospital during the holiday; only food supplied by the hospital may be eaten at the facility,” the paper added.

The Chief Rabbinate’s regulations state: “The guards doing security checks must be instructed that from the morning the hospital is made kosher [for Passover] through the end of the holiday…no hametz products can be brought into the hospital, with no exceptions.”

“The regulations also call for hanging signs at entrances to the premises and to wards and at elevators, asking visitors not to bring in any food during Passover,” Haaretz continued.