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Jul 20, 2021
kashrut reforms coming
Minister of Religious Affairs Matan Kahane announced a short while ago that he will be introducing reforms to the kashrut industry. Essentially he will be turning the Rabbanut into a regulator while kashrut is privatized. Basically anyone can give kashrut certification and the Rabbanut will set a variety of standards, and monitor and ensure that the various kashrut organizations live up to the standards it chose to certify with.
Additionally, kashrut organizations will be allowed to certify restaurants that are open and operating on Shabbos, if three municipal rabbis give it permission to operate.
Kahane says there will no longer be a need for double (or more) certification - until now every food or restaurant had to minimally have a Rabbanut hechsher by law, and if they wanted a private hechsher as well, they still had to have the Rabbanut and only above that a private one. Now they will only need to pay for one, and the Rabbanut will be the regulator.
source: INN
Bennett's people have promoted this idea for a long time, so it is not a surprise.
I do not know what might be wrong with it. Municipal rabbis are appointed by the Rabbanut, so I am not sure what the fear is of giving them power to give kashrut in other cities or to give special permission (such as for opening on Shabbos or for setting different standards).
the only opposition I have heard so far is from the Haredi politicians, but I haven't heard an explanation form them of what is wrong - just that Kahane and Bennett are dismantling the kashrut in Israel. Again, I don't know what is wrong with this arrangement. Anyways, they who oppose the move (so far) don't even rely on the Rabbanut hechsher (and many say it isnt even kosher to begin with), so I am not sure why removing that hechsher and having them regulate other certification standards instead is so bad.
I just dont get the argument against giving too much power or authority to rabbis appointed by the Rabbanut instead of leaving that power centralized by the Rabbanut. if you think the Rabbanut should hold the power, what is so bad about the rabbis the Rabbanut appointed? The same argument is used when discussing changes to the conversion system, and I dont understand the complaint there either.
the big issue I think is that I dont see who will step in to replace the Rabbanut and give basic kashrut certification. The competition will be to say I am the best mehadrin hechsher, not I give the basic kashrut level. And this might be the end of non-glatt meat, among other things
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Labels:
kashrut,
Matan Kahane,
Rabbanut
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Tzohar already certifies, and they davka don't claim to be the most mehadrin.
ReplyDeleteAdhering to mehadrin standards is more expensive than regular kashrut. In communities where the local demand is not for mehadrin (and there are many), restaurant owners will make the business decision to not incur the extra expense of mehadrin. And I would venture to say that even in cities like Jerusalem or Beit Shemesh, there remains a market for regular kashrut. So I wouldn't write it off.
ReplyDeleteToday the whole inyan of Glatt meat is at its best open to a wide interpretation of what exactly is Glatt. Beit Yosef chalak is also open to this same discussion.
ReplyDeleteWill be interested to hear a formal response from the Rabbinate.
ReplyDeleteRight now we have a problem with some towns where the local Rabbinate may be headed by a Talmid Chacham, but not necessarily someone with the administrative and business experience to run a kashrut agency. This problem would be eliminated by allowing a private Kashrut organization (Tzohar, Eida Charedit, OU, or anyone else) who are licensed by the Rabbinate to give out certificates, and allow the local Rabbinate to run affairs of the town (Mikva, Burial, Eruv, Marriage, etc) and leave the kashrut supervision to a business which have the staff and experience to do it.
If a local Rabbinate is running kashrut effectively, no reason that they would stop what they are doing.