Rafi-
Scribd link is not working.

fixed. thanks

Im waiting for a better quality image...stranegly enough - its not yet on the rabbanut website.

Yikes! That teudah in the middle looks _just_ like the regular kashrut sticker, but it says "teudat hashgacha".

The title of this post in misleading at best, inaccurate at worst. The hechsherim are not necessarily "flaky". They are simply not authorized by the State of Israel (that great adjudicator of halachik issues large and small) to provide a hechsher, and that is all the notice says. It does not pass judgment on the quality of the various organizations.

An analogy would be a cardiac surgeon who makes aliyah. On his first day, he would not be licensed by the State of Israel to take someone's pulse. No one could say that he's not a good doctor, however, without doing an investigation into the matter.

It may well be that some or all of the hechsherim are not reliable (I spotted one hechsher on the poster that I have heard is not reliable). However, the Rabbanut is not accusing any of them of being sub-par, just that they are breaking a law.

actually, they are not authorized because they are flaky and unreliable and unwilling to follow minimum standards of practice.

On his first day, he would not be licensed by the State of Israel to take someone's pulse. No one could say that he's not a good doctor, however, without doing an investigation into the matter.

Your comparison is ridiculous.

It is illegal for a doctor to practice medicine in Israel without a license. If you go to him/her, you are doing so at your own liability.

The Rabbanut is informing people that these hasgachot are

1) illegal
2) under their own auspices
3) Caveat Emptor - eating at these establishments means you may be eating treif.

Instead of knocking the Rabbanut, we should be congratulating them for informing the public.

Jameel, Rafi,

While I don't disagree that these places are probably not kosher, the notice does not say that (which was exactly what I wrote). It only says they are unauthorized (it doesn't say why) and that they are thus breaking the law.

My analogy was not rediculous, as Jameel poined out. It is illegal for a foreign doctor to practice medicine here without a license. If he does, it is under his own auspices. And caveat emptor to whomever wants to be treated by him. The only difference is that in this case we know that these hechsherim are probably no good, while in the hypothetical case, we know that the doctor is good. However, from a legal point of view (which is the only issue that the Rabbanut raised in the flyer) they are the same.

And I did not knock the Rabbanut. However, if you took offense at my knocking the State of Israel, then I apologize.

yoni - you are correct that this notice only says they are unauthorized and does not say why.

However, the rabbanut has put out plenty of warnings about these various hechshers in the past, among others having written about them. The reasons are because they cannot be relied upon due to not adhering to any minimum standards, let alone mehadrin standards that they profess to be using.

Yoni R: Knock the State of Israel as much as you want -- the Rabbanut (overall) is trying very hard in certain aspects to do well.

Kashrut is one of them.

yoni,
a better analogy should be person who does cardiac surgery in his private office but he doesn't have a degree from any medical school. he might well be a good doctor who read a lot of medical books...