Interestingly, the hechsher on this restaurant was mehadrin under the certification of Rabbanut Tiberias Mehadrin and Chug Chatam Sofer (Petach Tikva). It surprised me to hear that of all the restaurants that might have decided to forgo the hechsher and open on Shabbos, the first one to do so would be a mehadrin restaurant. I guess with no business on Shabbos it paid to be mehadrin to get the more religious business, but that did not override the ability to do business on Shabbos.
I heard Ron Kobi, the mayor, justify this saying that Shabbos isnt a factor and no more coercion, and the Rabbanut isn't necessary as Tzohar is available and restaurants and hotels can switch to Tzohar.
I have no idea what Tzohar's rules and requirements are, but I would be surprised to hear that they would be part of allowing chilul shabbos and will give a hechsher to a place open on Shabbos without being able to certify it. Perhaps they have other solutions the Rabbanut would not consider, I do not know, but my guess is that the switch to Tzohar will not make a big difference in this rgeard. There might be other reasons and benefits for them, but I have a hard time believing that all the restaurants in Tiberias that want to open on Shabbos will just switch to Tzohar certification and will suddenly be able to do so.
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If restaurants switch from Rabbanut to Tzohar, be interesting to see how much business they would loose.
ReplyDeleteIn the circles I move in, most people eat Rabbanut, but many do not eat Tzohar (or any other unrecognized certification)
I dont know how many eat one over the other (most of the circles I am in dont eat rabbanut either)... that being said, if all they need is general kashrut because they are open for shabbat and the traditional people coming to party on shabbat want something generally kosher, I would bet tzohar would be enough. for the religious public it might not be.
ReplyDeletethe big question is what will happen in the summer when the bulk of the tourists are the religious and haredi public..will restaurants then [temporarily] switch to more haredi-acceptable hechshers?
I would hope Tzohar won't certify any business that intends to be open on Shabbos. I know that a restaurant could always take deliveries on Shabbos even if they aren't open for business, but actually being open when no Mashgiach is going to be ever be around is just asking for a violation.
ReplyDeleteI am pretty sure that one of the things they certify is that the business isn't open on Shabbat.
ReplyDeleteTzohar certification isn't that the establishment is Kosher (as by law they cannot certify that), rather it is a checklist of things that it certifies (that there are no meat/dairy products on the premises, that Trumot / Masser / Challa were taken, that the vegetables are checked for bugs ...) I'm pretty sure that one of the things on their list is that the business is closed on Shabbat.