Should the Israeli state mandate kosher Passover food in hospitals? This issue has become the center of a secular-religious battle. A group of secular activists petitioned the High Court against the regulation that prohibits bringing leavened bread, or chametz, into hospitals during Passover. But the petition seems like a fight for the sake of a fight and not motivated by a true desire to allow families to bring food for their hospitalized loved ones. The Israeli public is clearly smarter than those purporting to fight for it and knows how to be flexible and considerate when necessary.
In general, hospitals in Israel forbid bringing in food except that in its original sealed packaging. In practice, however, the prohibition isn’t meticulously enforced. A deputy director of operations at one of the hospitals in Jerusalem admitted in private conversation with Al-Monitor that the Israeli public cannot comply with this decree, and so long as they don't bring enormous pots or cause real disturbance to the other patients and hospital routine, hospitals turn a blind eye.
