THE CROCODILE TEARS OF THE CHIEF RABBIS IN ISRAEL

A reality we deal with in Israel is the re-emergence of the two Chareidi parties as major players in the Government. Prime Minister Netanyahu, in order to form a government with a razor thin, one vote majority, sold his soul to the two ultra religious parties to have them join his governing majority.

The reactions and results have been rather quick in coming as the two small parties effectively control the Government. At any time, they can bring the Government down. Knowing that, they have demanded all manner of things be put back under their control.

Officially, here in Israel, if you want your store or restaurant to be called kosher, it must be under the supervision of the Chief Rabbinate. Store and restaurant owners claim that the rabbinic supervisors are lackadaisical, often are no shows, and can be quite corrupt. As a result, a number of places are going without rabbinate supervision and choosing private supervision, which is, quite frankly, much better than the poor supervision given by corrupt supervisors.

Note that while this is going on, although the Chief Rabbis are themselves Chareidim, the chareidi community does not accept their supervision. They have their own “Badatz” supervisions.

Although the “Badatz” supervisions are illegal under current law here, the offices of the Chief Rabbis choose to look the other way. However, when it comes to the new, private supervisions, the Rabbinate has gone postal. Piteous speeches are given by the Chief Rabbis warning us that they only worry that the private supervisions will cause us to eat trefe. In reality, they want the money that they are not getting paid for supervision from those places. Those places that are now under private supervision are not even allowed to call themselves kosher! As a result, the certificates they display do not say kosher. The certificate simply states who supervises.

There is one place where the owner, a fourth generation member of the owning, Sefardi family, has chosen to forego supervision. Her customer base is still mostly a religiously observant, but modern, customer base. Another place has a sign that says, “We guarantee we are not under the supervision of the Chief Rabbinate. Our food is totally acceptable.”

The nexus of religion and politics is poisonous, and nowhere is that made more clear than in the field of kashruth here in Israel. Sad, isn’t?
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The opinions expressed here are those of the owner of this blog, and do not necessarily reflect those of the UTJ.