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ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 564

hametz

Shoppers in the Geula neighborhood of Jerusalem ahead of Passover, April 11, 2025 (Zev Stub/Times of Israel)
April 11, 2025, 11:01 am
As prices rise, Haredi Jerusalemites line shops — and soup kitchens — ahead of Passover
Despite rampant poverty in Mea Shearim neighborhood and a 5% rise in Passover food costs, demand for high-end goods is high, but so is reliance on charity
By Zev Stub
Gal Ifergane, the director of the neurology department, poses outside Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba with rolls he brought in to protest a ban on such products in hospitals during the Passover holiday. (Gal Ifergane, via Facebook)
April 9, 2023, 6:48 pm
Hospital department chief brings in bread to protest ‘delusional’ hametz law
Head of neurology at Soroka Medical Center posts photo of himself bringing non-kosher for Passover food into workplace in defiance of government policy, saying ‘madness must stop’
By Luke Tress and ToI Staff
Signage at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa is put up after the hametz law is passed by the Knesset on March 28, 2023. (Courtesy of Rambam Medical Center)
April 9, 2023, 6:16 pm
Health Ministry says ‘hametz law’ doesn’t let hospitals search or confiscate food
Responding to petition filed after pregnant woman’s cookies were taken by guard, ministry tells High Court new law only allows hospital staff to inform guests of rules at gates
By ToI Staff and Renee Ghert-Zand
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir arrives for a hearing at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem on April 3, 2023. (Photo by EriK Marmor/Flash90)
April 4, 2023, 1:41 pm
Daily Briefing April 4: PM and Gallant toast Passover as Ben Gvir has day in court
Zman Yisrael editor Biranit Goren on the ministers of defense and national security; health and science reporter Renee Ghert-Zand on hospital hametz, green tea and BRCA1 research
By ToI Staff
Laniado Hospital, also known as the Sanz Medical Center, in Kiryat Sanz in the coastal city of Netanya, March 26, 2020. (Gili Yaari / Flash90)
April 3, 2023, 4:10 am
Hospital confiscates pregnant woman’s cookies as new hametz law goes into effect
Guard at Netanya’s Laniado said to block entry over wafers, days before Passover starts; hospitals look to balance compliance with longstanding respect for all religious practices
By Renee Ghert-Zand
Illustrative: A man shops for bread in a supermarket in Jerusalem. (Orel Cohen/Flash90)
March 28, 2023, 5:06 pm
Knesset passes ‘Hametz Law’ allowing hospitals to ban leavened products on Passover
Law does not allow searches of visitors’ belongings; opposition leader Lapid warns legislation will only push more secular people to resist what they see as religious coercion
By ToI Staff
Illustrative. Pizza. (Yossi Zamir/Flash90)
March 26, 2023, 11:31 pm
Activists plan Passover ‘pizza party’ to protest hospital hametz law
Legislation would give hospital directors the power to ban leavened products from their institutions during the week-long holiday
By Canaan Lidor
MK Moshe Gafni, right, and MK Yitzhak Goldknopf speak during a meeting of the United Torah Judaism party at the Knesset in Jerusalem on December 5, 2022. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
March 26, 2023, 4:49 pm
Hametz law set to pass, in time for hospitals to ban non-kosher food on Passover
Softened version of ultra-Orthodox-led bill lets hospitals forbid leavened products, but does not explicitly permit enforcement
By Carrie Keller-Lynn
View of the HaEmek Medical Center in Afula, Israel on February 12, 2018. (Flash90/ File)
March 20, 2023, 9:23 pm
Bill to let hospitals ban leavened bread over Passover cleared for final readings
Legislation’s authors note proposal doesn’t include enforcement measures, as opposition lawmakers denounce so-called hametz law as an assault on civil liberties
By Canaan Lidor
Israelis protest against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to overhaul the Israel's judicial system, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, March 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
March 18, 2023, 11:52 pm
Coalition to push ahead with judicial overhaul, bills to assist Netanyahu and Deri
Constitution committee will hold back-to-back hearings ahead of likely final votes next week, while bills to help PM and Shas chief with legal problems will also be advanced
By Jeremy Sharon
UTJ leader MK Moshe Gafni at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on January 2, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
March 6, 2023, 1:50 am
Ahead of Passover, coalition advances bill that lets hospitals ban hametz
Legislation gives flexibility to hospital administrators to set kosher-for-Passover rules; 2020 High Court order blocked hospital guards from checking visitors’ bags for hametz
By Carrie Keller-Lynn
A woman shops for matzah at a supermarket in Jerusalem on March 31, 2020. (Yossi Zamir/Flash90/File)
March 1, 2023, 10:52 pm
Softened bill banning Passover ‘hametz’ from hospitals cleared for first reading
After fiery debate, MKs tweak legislation to give hospital directors more control over how to keep leavened goods out during Jewish holiday, rather than imposing a blanket ban
By Judah Ari Gross
Illustrative: A man shops for bread in a supermarket in Jerusalem. (Orel Cohen/Flash90)
February 22, 2023, 10:20 pm
Bills advance to ban hametz from hospitals on Passover, boost rabbinic court powers
Legislation would allow religious courts to rule on civil cases when there is consent from both sides
By ToI Staff and Judah Ari Gross
Illustrative: Workers prepare matzah, the unleavened bread eaten during the Jewish holiday of Passover, at the Aviv Matzah plant in Bnei Brak on April 14, 2019. (Flash90)
February 19, 2023, 4:30 pm
Bills to ban hametz, expand powers of rabbinic courts breeze through committee
AG comes out against proposal criminalizing bringing leavened goods into hospitals during Passover; groups representing ‘chained’ women oppose letting rabbis adjudicate civil cases
By Judah Ari Gross
Illustrative: Workers prepare matzah for the upcoming Jewish holiday of Passover at the 'Yehuda Matzos' plant in Jerusalem on March 16, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
January 23, 2023, 11:16 pm
UTJ submits bill to ban hametz from hospitals during Passover
Progressive religious voices denounce proposal, say it will have a ‘boomerang effect’ and drive people away from Judaism
By Judah Ari Gross
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