The Jerusalem Magistrates Court has determined, in a landmark ruling, that stores which sell Hametz (leavened bread) during Passover are not committing an offense as long their merchandise is not displayed "in public", meaning outside on the street.
The court also dismissed charges against three traders who faced prosecution over their sale of Hametz during the Passover holiday last year.
The Matzot (Prohibition of Hametz) Law (5746-1986) provides that "the owner of a business shall not publicly display any Hametz product for sale or consumption." Lawyers acting for the defendants argued, among other things, that a business could not be classed as a "public place."
In her ruling Judge Tamar Bar-Asher-Zaban said the law "does not mandate enforcement of religious prohibitions as they appear in traditional Jewish law." The law, she insisted, "relates only to the display of hametz in a public place."
Judge Bar-Asher-Zaban added that the law did not give a precise definition to the term "public place," however since it was a criminal law, she referred to the definitions of the penal code which defines a public place as "a place in the public domain where the action can be seen from any location," or "a place not in the public domain but where the action can be seen by a person in the public domain."
Minister of Religious Affairs Yitzhak Cohen blasted the ruling and said that a court handing down a ruling like this was putting a gun to the head of the Jewish people. Cohen stressed the sale of Hametz during Passover was against both state and Halachic law, and added that he would be asking the government to appeal the decision.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 6, 2008
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