Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi David Lau has secured a half million shekel budget to permit moving ahead with exams in the Chief Rabbinate.

Back in November 2013 YWN-ISRAEL reported that avreichim who took the Choshen Mishpat aleph exams towards certification as dayanim were promised the results within 120 days. A year later, hundreds of avreichim were still being held at bay by the Chief Rabbinate’s inaction.

The avreichim learned the rabbonim responsible for grading the exams were striking due to the lack of manpower and the overwhelming number of exams that had to be marked. Rav Lau explained the five dayanim responsible for the exams was insufficient.

Rav Lau has been working hard since that time to find the money and qualified dayanim to mark the exams and B”H it appears he succeeded. Prior to a press conference on Tuesday 3 Adar I 5774 with Minister of Religious Services Naftali Bennett the rav secured the necessary funding to hire the dayanim and proceed with marking exams and permitting new candidates to be tested.

At the press conference, Bennett announced the ministry’s new kashrus revolution, explaining in some detail just how the ministry plans to earn the trust of the tzibur regarding state kashrus certification.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)