Chief Rabbi Dovid Lau Shlita has been in charge of the Rabbinate’s “nationwide kashrus” but signaled he cannot sign teudot kashrus in cases in which he does not have firsthand knowledge of the factory. The decision was made to place the responsibility in the hands of another, and after phone polling members of the Chief Rabbinate Council, Chief Rabbi of Ohr Akiva Rabi Eliyahu Iluz was approved. The other candidate was Tzfat Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu Shlita.

Generally, Chief Rabbinate kashrus is handed over to local religious councils, which in turn oversee kashrus on a local level. Hence, the Jerusalem Religious Council provides kosher supervision for businesses in the capital as do the other religious councils around Israel.

However, at times, there are factories in areas that do not have a local religious council, as is the case for factories in Nachal I’ron (Wadi Ara), which is primarily Israeli Arabs. Therefore, the Chief Rabbinate’s Kashrus Artzit (Nationwide Kashrus) comes into play, providing kashrus supervision to factories in that area. another example would be Ben-Gurion International Airport.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)