Chief Rabbi Dovid Lau Shlita released a statement to the media after Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein ruled a business may hire a private hashgacha in place of a local rabbinate and not just in addition to the local rabbinate as has been the case under law to date.
Weinstein has opened the door for private hashgachas to certify businesses in place of the Chief Rabbinate, which operates via the nation’s local rabbinates. The decision has led to an outcry by the Chief Rabbis and religious councils around Israel.
“The attorney general’s decision is wrong and will lead to kashrus fraud for kosher consumers around the country” Rabbi Lau stated. He adds “It should be remembered that unlike the protection under law for the title ‘doctor’ or ‘lawyer’, unfortunately the title ‘rabbi’ does not enjoy the same protection under law and anyone can present himself as such. Therefore, under the current situation any person can claim to be a rav who heads a hashgacha and provide kashrus for a business while duping the consumer who remains unaware of the fraud. We will act with the new government to correct this to prevent a serious flaw under its administration”.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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4 Responses
To our dear fellow Jews who come to visit here:
Please be very careful to check that the heksher is from the Chief Rabbinut otherwise the food could be non-kosher altogether, H-shem yeracheim as happened once when a hotel in Jerusalem lost it’s heksher, put up it’s own certificate and was discovered bringing in Arab meat.
Kol tuv (all the best)
I don’t get it attorney general allowed to disregard a law and make his own regulations.TIME TO FIRE WEINSTEIN!!!!
What monopoly? The Hareidim have never used government kosher certification, and consider the concept of “government kashrut” to be an oxymoron. Apparently most kosher consumers agree, which why hareidi hecksherim prosper. The deciding factor is hecksherim is not what the Kenesset says, but what kosher consumers buy – which is why good hecksherim (which tend to come from non-zionist rabbanim rather than the civil service zionist inspectors), are preferred by many otherwise very zionist, but capitalist and driven by the desire to make money, manufacturers.
The solution is, and always has been, to stick with Chareidi hecksherim exclusively.