I am not sure if the bigger story of this is the lack of coordination and the attempt to push it through regardless of anyone else's opinion, or if the bigger story is the law itself.
Shas has announced that it wants a law passed by which a restaurant, any establishment serving food would have to get a hechsher from the Rabbanut confirming that the food is kosher. No private hechshers allowed.
This does not just refer to the hechsher itself - that they must have a Rabbanut hechsher in order to display a different hechsher. It also includes anything in the establishment that might indicate kashrut - e.g. pictures of rabbonim, prayers on the wall (prayer for successful business or the like), maybe hamsa, the word kosher, or anything else that might make someone think the food inside is kosher. If a restaurant is going to hang in the shop anything like that, he must first have a Rabbanut hechsher.
MKs from Kulanu have a problem with this law. It seems that the biggest problem they have is that Shas is trying to ram it down everyone's throat and did not coordinate at all, and is trying to push it through very quickly with no debate. I did hear MK Rachel Azaria on the radio, and she also does not like the wording of the law, as it is too oppressive - according to Azaria the law would criminalize people who serve coffee in their business meeting and have a "birkat haesek" hanging in the shop, for example.
Interestingly, this would not just affect restaurants looking to avoid the hechsher route (like those getting involved with the "hashgacha pratit" people), but would also require all restaurants with mehadrin hechshers to display Rabbanut hechshers. The radio show hosts on Kol Hai, when discussing the issue, refused to go there (when I was listening) and talk about that, but only wanted to talk about Kulanu's opposition to the law.
No, the government won't be brought down over this. Maximum, Shas will have to put it on hold for a bit while they work out the details with the coalition partners.
According to NRG, Shas says they are unwilling to compromise on this and change the wording.
I am not sure what the rush is. Why can't this wait a few days and get it done properly instead of being pushed through quickly? This makes me most suspicious.
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Pretty typical Israeli bolshevism - no way a law like this could be passed in the USA. What if the picture of the rabbi is the grandfather of the owner of the treif restaurant (R"L) - he still wouldn't be able to hang his picture there because people might think it was kosher? The government (not only the present one) needs a big dose of Ritalin.
ReplyDeleteHas the State bercome so corrupt that kashrut has become a problem in the so-called Jewish state? There shouldn't even exist a non-kosher restaurant in the Land of Israel - that should be a given! But, of course, since it is a joke to even imagine such a thing in these insane times; do believe that the real 'kosher hechsherim' should be allowed together with the hechsher of the Rabbanut. Pictures of known holy saintly Rabbanim should be welcome in any truly glatt kosher restaurant. There is something not right with all the balagan about such basics as 'Kashrut' in EY; maybe it is part of the sinister plan of doing away with kashrut altogether, and then, what's next, r'l?
ReplyDeleteIf you have ROY or rav machfud or other shasnik rav, you are exempt from the law. Not sure yet about a picture of the baba sali.
ReplyDelete