Israel: Hospital Confiscates Pregnant Woman’s Cookies as New Hametz Law Goes Into Effect
A hospital guard in central Israel confiscated cookies that were not kosher for Passover from a pregnant woman checking into the medical centre on Sunday, days before the start of the holiday, and as hospitals nationwide prepare to implement the government’s new “Hametz law” passed by the Knesset last week.
The law bans hametz (leavened food) in hospitals during the week of Passover, during which observant Jews eschew such products, and leaves it to hospital directors to “use their judgment in how to notify visitors and staff” either by posting their policies on their website or with signage at entrances, but it does not explicitly allow security guards to search patients’ or visitors’ bags to enforce the policy.
Passover begins on the evening of Wednesday, April 5, this year.
Several large hospitals across Israel said they would post signage on hospital premises but would not search belongings to enforce the restrictions. Some said they would set up designated spaces or lockers for anyone wishing to keep Hametz there.
But on Sunday, according to a Channel 12 report (in Hebrew), an employee stationed at the entrance to Laniado Hospital, a private religious hospital in Netanya, prevented a woman with a high-risk pregnancy from entering with a package of wafers that were not kosher for Passover, and she was required to leave the food outside.
