JERUSALEM - Ultra-Orthodox Jews burned bread and other leavened foods in communal bonfires Monday, completing preparations for Passover.
The weeklong holiday commemorates the flight of the ancient Israelites from bondage in Egypt, as described in the Old Testament.
Observant Jews eat matzo, unleavened bread, to illustrate how their ancestors had no time to let their bread rise as they fled.
Even the normally unobservant scour their homes to get rid of any particle of food that contains, or may have touched, leavening.
The army sealed off the West Bank early Sunday as a precaution against Palestinian attacks. The closure will last through the holiday, affecting some 50,000 Palestinian who cross into Israel every day to work.
Exceptions would be made for humanitarian cases and for Christians visiting family inside Israel for Easter, the army said.
Police were on high alert, putting reinforcements on the streets. A suicide attack on Passover diners at a hotel in the Israeli city of Netanya killed 30 Israelis in 2002.
Israel's chief rabbis instructed believers to add a holiday prayer for the safe return of three Israeli soldiers abducted last summer by Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and by Lebanese Hezbollah militiamen.
The Supreme Court Sunday blocked plans by Jewish fundamentalists to sacrifice a sheep at the site of the biblical Jewish temples, as was the practice at major festivals in ancient times. The rock platform where the temples built by Solomon and Herod once stood, now houses the Al Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock.
The site, known as the Temple Mount to Jews and the Noble Sanctuary to Muslims, is holy to both faiths and has been a frequent flashpoint. In February, Israeli work on a ramp leading up to the hilltop site touched off clashes between police and local Muslims and brought howls of protest from around the Islamic world.
The Haaretz daily said the Supreme Court denied the Jews permission to carry out animal sacrifice at the site, fearing it might provoke Muslims.
"The rights of the petitioners to practice their faith are outweighed by other considerations, such as public order and safety," Haaretz quoted the court ruling as saying.
