Hospitals have no legal authority to prohibit people on their premises from bringing leavened goods (chametz) during Passover, the High Court of Justice ruled on Thursday.
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The court further said that hospitals must not carry out searches in people's belongings to determine which food they may have brought.
"The restrictions prevent patients from eating what they choose in their personal space and violates their right to dignity, autonomy and religious freedom that they are supposed to enjoy in a democratic country," the justices wrote in their opinion.
During Passover, most observant Jews avoid eating chametz for halachic reasons, as per an interpretation of biblical verses requiring Jews to keep away from such food for an entire week in memory of their harrowing experience in Egypt and the hasted exodus that resulted in a lack of time to make proper bread.
Over the years, the restrictions placed on visitors to hospitals in this regard have become a bone of contention, with many secular Israelis saying they are forced to comply with religious law against their will, and that this only hurts patients, who rely on the food they bring them.
Professor Aviad Hacohen, who represents Israel's Chief Rabbinate in the case, slammed the decision. "Unfortunately, the court rendered a ruling that will turn the last place where Jews, Arabs, ultra-Orthodox and secular Israelis enjoy good relations – both as patients as staff – into a place of controversy. This will have widespread effects on keeping kosher in public," he said.
