Just in Time for Passover: Kosher Cigarettes

Israeli body gives 3 brands seal of approval
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 26, 2013 2:37 AM CDT
Just in Time for Passover: Kosher Cigarettes
Cigarettes are for sale with a stamp of approval reading in Hebrew, "kosher for Passover" at a kiosk in the Jewish ultra-Orthodox town of Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv.   (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

It's Passover and for the first time, Israeli smokers can puff away on rabbi-approved cigarettes, the AP reports. The group that certifies foods and other items as kosher for the week-long holiday approved three brands of cigarettes after determining that their ingredients had not come into contact with grains or other forbidden items. Israel's chief rabbinate, however, criticized the move and said rabbis should not be giving smokes the seal of approval. "Poison is not kosher. For all days of the year, not just Passover," a spokesman said. (More Israel stories.)

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