ISRAELI CHIEF RABBINATE SAYS CONSERVATIVE RABBIS’ WINE IS NOT KOSHER

Conservative Rabbis’ Wine Is Not Kosher, Israel’s Haredi Chief Rabbis Warn
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

Israel’s haredi-controlled chief rabbinate has reportedly issued a warning that wine supervised by rabbis affiliated with the Conservative Movement is not kosher.

“The Conservative Movement is forbidden by law to authorize kashrut. Products [its rabbis have supervised]…should not be sold in stores [which are] under the supervision of the local [Orthodox] rabbinates. Let the public know and be warned,” the chief rabbinate wrote on a website it maintains dealing with kosher food issues and warnings, Ha’aretz reported.

The controversy involves wine produced by Rujum, a small boutique winery that reportedly decided to challenge Orthodoxy’s monopoly on kosher supervision in Israel. It also objects to the chief rabbinate’s extremely strict interpretations of the halakhot (Jewish laws) that govern winemaking.

Rujum reportedly does not claim that its wines are kosher by the chief rabbinate’s standards and its bottles do not have the chief rabbinate’s kosher seal.

According to Ha’aretz, to obtain certification from the Conservative Movement, all ingredients used in the wine’s production must be kosher, and the commandments specific to produce grown in the Land of Israel (tithing, for example) must be followed.

However, the difference between the Conservative Movement and Orthodoxy in wine production is in who is actually allowed to produce the wine. The current Orthodox understanding of halakha prohibits anyone who is not Sabbath observant or who is non-Jewish from having any contact with the wine as it is being produced or with any container it is stored in afterward for fear of “idolators” spiritually polluting it.

The Conservative Movement does not have those requirements, having decided decades ago that because the winemaking process is largely automated today, these restrictions should no longer apply in countries where non-Jews are largely monotheists (a position some Orthodox rabbis have taken, as well).

While there is some division among Orthodox and haredi rabbis about the status of Christianity, the majority of these rabbis of the past several centuries have ruled that Christianity is not idol worship and Christians are not idolators. But Islam is uniformly viewed by these rabbis as monotheistic and Muslims are in no case considered idol worshippers – making the Conservative Movement’s decision to wave the Orthodox/haredi requirement to ban non-Jews from wine production and handling understandable.

“I am pleased to see that the Rabbinate has taken note of our efforts to establish higher standards for hashgacha [supervision]. Our agreement with those we serve demands that employees be treated ethically and paid a living wage. We also bar discrimination on the basis of religion in the employment of workers. We have been careful to adhere to the laws of the State of Israel (in addition to our adherence to Jewish law) in offering hashgacha. The claim of the Rabbinate to the contrary is fallacious. Were the Rabbinate to serve the needs of those who feel that ethical kashrut cannot be separated from the technical aspects of kashrut (to which we adhere), and were the finances of the kashrut industry fair, ethical, and transparent – then there would be no need for an alternative. Sadly, this is not the case,” Rabbi Andrew Sacks, the director of the Masorti Movement Rabbinical Assembly in Israel told Ha’aretz. (In Israel, the Conservative Movement is known as the Masoriti Movement.)

Rujum plans to begin exporting wine to Conservative synagogues in the United States in the near future.