Rabbi Shmaryahu Yosef Chaim Kanievsky from Israel has given his approval for the use of medical marijuana during passover.
The leading living authority in Haredi Jewish society has examined the marijuana plant and considers it beneficial.
Under normal circumstances the herb is considered to be a member of a religiously restricted group of foods.
Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, considered a “leading living ultra-Orthodox halachic authority,” by the Times of Israel, ruled that marijuana is kosher for Passover and pronounced a blessing over the plant’s leaves.
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Sputnik reports:
During the eight-day Passover holiday, there are strict dietary rules, but, after sniffing the leaves of the marijuana plant, Kanievsky determined that it had a “healing smell,” and blessed the plant for medicinal use.
Previously, Rabbi Efraim Zalmanovich, who wrote a book on alcoholism in the context of the religion, had determined that smoking and distributing marijuana was kosher — as long as it was being used medicinally.
“Taking drugs to escape this world in any excessive way is certainly forbidden,” he said.
