The government said on Sunday that it needed another three months to present the changes it had promised to a kashrut reform that was supposed to expand the certification market and break what is seen as a monopoly by the Chief Rabbinate. The response came after several extension requests by the government, which said in March that the fundamental ideas had been established and amendments put in place.
The government requested another extension last month.
It was prompted by a petition filed to the High Court of Justice by the Tzohar Rabbinical Organization, which had not been adjudicated the authority to serve as a kashrut supervisor, despite its repeated requests for such a right, as well as for the reform that should have allowed for it.
Tzohar was founded in 1995 after the assassination of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin with the aim of bridging social divides in the realms of Jewish practice and identity.
Today, it provides the largest alternative to the Chief Rabbinate, with programs and aid relating to Jewish marriage, status, holidays, and kashrut supervision.
Tzohar unionized in 2018 and has been providing certifications ever since. It says that its supervision program is more accessible, efficient, reliable, and transparent, and that it insists on workers’ rights and incorporating women into the process.
Tzohar sued the government and the Rabbinate on September 19, 2023, for the right to issue such certifications, based on a 1983 law. A conditional order was issued by the court a year ago, giving the government time to respond.
The 1983 law granted kashrut supervision to the Rabbinate and any rabbis it ordained, as well as local rabbis, and IDF rabbis. This effectively provided it with a monopoly, Tzohar argued.
Use of the word “kosher” was only allowed to those licensed figures, given that there were dozens of private kashrut certifiers on the market, most of them haredi (ultra-Orthodox).
Tzohar’s kashrut director Rabbi Emmanuel Guedj explained that even though the organization’s certifications are widely considered valid and trustworthy, the public has a real attachment to the world “kosher,” which means that businesses have been more hesitant to work with Tzohar, even though it is providing an honest service.
On October 27, 2021, the Knesset amended the 1983 law with the goal of expanding the market of legitimate bodies that could provide kashrut supervision to effectively keep the Rabbinate as the chief regulator but fix some of the wrongs.
The amendment came into effect on January 1, 2023.
About three months later, on March 26, Tzohar requested from the Chief Rabbinate that it be recognized as a legitimate kashrut supervisor, so that it could provide recognized certifications to businesses and restaurants. Responses to such requests are supposed to take no more than 45 days to return, but Tzohar noted that by September 19, 2023, when it filed the petition, it had not received such a response. Tzohar added that it had approached the appropriate authority within the Rabbinate several times, to no avail.
About nine months later, the government and the rabbinate updated the Court that the reform had been scrapped and that a different one was being prepared instead.
Tzohar argued that the reform had effectively been paused without authority, and that the government and rabbinate were acting against the law, holding Tzohar in legal limbo.
“It is important to note that there are deep ideological divides [between Tzohar and the rabbinate], but that does not excuse the intentional and harmful exclusion,” reads the petition, adding that the economic and business consequences of this exclusion were dire.
Tzohar approached the Rabbinate several times
It further noted the decades-long monopoly that the rabbinate has had on the kashrut market, as it is currently the only body licensed to supervise.
Reports from the state comptroller over the years point to conflicts of interest between supervisors and business owners, including over pay; the existence of private supervision organizations that weren’t being monitored; multiple supervisions on single items that skyrocketed their prices; and more.
The reform was supposed to remedy these issues,reads the petition, and, in January 2023, when it originally kicked in, Tzohar requested to be recognized as a legitimate supervisor. It already supervises businesses and restaurants across the country. It never received a response.
Essentially, the reform is in effect and should allow for Tzohar to get the certification it wants, but the protocol the government has repeatedly cited has kept this from happening.