WAVE: Kashrut

The High Court of Justice on Tuesday ruled that Israeli restaurateurs are permitted to inform their clientele that they serve kosher food even if they do not have kashrut certification from the Israeli state rabbinate. The ruling may mark the end of a years-long battle over whether the ultra-Orthodox-controlled state rabbinate is the only body…

Amid an acrimonious debate raging in Israeli society centering on religionization, and religion’s supposedly growing presence in our daily lives, there are quite a few restaurants, cafés and other places of leisure deciding to go kosher—not necessarily because of religion.

… Meanwhile, it’s business as usual for the women kashrut supervisors. Under the exceptions of the law, they make sure that the place is kosher, but they don’t grant a certificate. “I don’t understand who decided that kashrut supervision is a man’s job,” says Hemdah Shalom. “With all due respect, I know a little bit more about cooking. The male monopoly in the field comes from the Rabbinate’s need to give yeshiva students a livelihood that relates to their main occupation—Torah studying. They can also be allowed to be supervisors, but not exclusively. Women deserve it too.” From a halachic perspective, there is indeed no reason why women cannot work as kashrut supervisors. In practice, however, apart from a few exceptions, all supervisors in Israel are men. For years, the Chief Rabbinate refused to allow women to participate in kashrut supervision courses “for modesty reasons,” and it remained an exclusively male profession.

Israel’s Chief Rabbinate is signaling it may agree to increased competition in the kashrut supervision market. In advance of the rehearing of a petition to the High Court of Justice on the matter, the Chief Rabbinate’s kashrut committee, which has been meeting for the past few months, has reached the conclusion that business owners could…

Following the Supreme Court discussion Tuesday on the Chief Rabbinate’s monopoly on kosher certification and the request of restaurants to declare that they are kosher without being subordinated to the Rabbinate, Dr. Shuki Friedman, Director of the Israel Democracy’s Center for Religion, Nation and State, said the central issue of the debate should not be…

The High Court of Justice heard on Tuesday arguments against the Chief Rabbinate’s monopoly over kashrut supervision, while at the same time details emerged indicating that the Chief Rabbinate itself is considering far-reaching reforms of the kashrut sector. […] The justices on Tuesday leveled tough questions at both sides, criticizing the claim of the petitioning…

The Chief Rabbinate is considering measures to significantly reform the provision of kashrut, against a background of numerous scandals and allegations of corruption in the sector. In March, Chief Rabbi David Lau established a committee – which he chairs – to evaluate the kashrut supervision system and investigate options to improve it. … It now…

Arbis, the hummusiya location for the Friday, June 25 event, has been using Private Supervision certification since it opened two and half years ago, said Yoav Bakerman, one of the three owners. Bakerman said he and his partners didn’t like the working methods of the rabbinate. “It’s a lot of money to use the rabbinate,”…

The unprecedented assault by Yair Ettinger on the Reform Movement in Israel as having initiated a failed move that in the end only strengthened the Chief Rabbinate, and his attempt to hint that the movement is itself a kind of satiated establishment, is nothing but needless mudslinging against a movement that has championed equality, freedom…

Kashrut legislation proposed by Kulanu MK Rachel Azaria, designed to allow independent kashrut authorities to operate while turning the Chief Rabbinate into the industry regulator, is set to come before the Ministerial Committee on Legislation on Monday. At the same time, a separate bill on kashrut proposed by Bayit Yehudi MK Betzalel Smotrich – which…