'Chametz in hospital' row not resolved this Pesach — but petitioners express hope for next year

In practice, many hospitals in more secular areas, such as Tel Aviv, only display posters asking people not to bring in chametz food.

In more religious areas, such as Jerusalem, security guards may get involved, searching the possessions of visitors for food.

The Chief Rabbinate warns hospitals that if chametz is allowed in, they will lose their kashrut certification.

The government says regulations allow medical facilities to remain “open and accessible” to kashrut observers during Pesach and that asking visitors to desist from bringing in chametz for just over a week is not a major infringement of the patients’ rights.

The High Court pushed the petition back to be discussed in June.

It rejected a compromise proposed by the government that the hospitals allow a secluded place near the entrance to hospitals where chametz can be consumed.

At a Health Ministry conference held at the end of March, Deputy Health minister Yaakov Litzman warned that “no hospital management is allowed not to carry out the procedure which has been customary for 70 years.”