ISRAELI AG TAKES ON THE RABBANUT’S MONOPOLY IN KASHRUTH

The Chief Rabbinate suffered a major defeat recently when the attorney general told the High Court that restaurants receiving kashrut certification outside the Rabbinate should not be fined as long as they don’t use the word kosher.

For example, the private kashrut organization Hashgacha Pratit does not use the word kosher but says it meticulously observes religious law “concerning food ingredients and their preparation.”

This is a major victory for restaurant owners in Jerusalem — and more recently Tel Aviv — who have been fighting the Rabbinate’s monopoly over religious services. These locales offer kosher food under the supervision of private Orthodox kashrut supervisors while bypassing Israel’s law against kashrut fraud.