Don’t cry to the Rabbinate over spilt milk
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Avi Dichter, recently suggested that non-Jewish workers operate dairy plants — including milk collection and the production of milk and its products — on Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, and Simchat Torah, in order to prevent shortages during the holidays. This was not a serious proposal, but a maneuver to shift blame for a possible shortage. Suggesting that a few outsiders could just run an entire plant for a day or two ignores reality.
It is crucial to distinguish between the simple act of milking a cow, which Halacha permits a non-Jew to perform on Shabbat or yom tov, and the very different reality of running a full-scale dairy plant. Milking is a contained agricultural task; operating a plant is an industrial enterprise. A dairy plant is not about milking alone; even its most basic products require pasteurization, packaging, refrigeration, sanitation, veterinary oversight, quality control, engineering, maintenance, transport, and management — and for more complex items, such as yogurt, cheese, or cultured dairy products, even more specialized expertise is essential.
In practice, non-Jewish workers — mostly from Thailand — already operate milking systems in farms and barns throughout the year, including Shabbat, holidays, and even Yom Kippur. This is permitted under Halacha due to tza’ar ba’alei chayim (preventing animal suffering), because cows must be milked at least once a day. However, even in these cases, occasional malfunctions occur — for example, in electrical systems — and Jewish workers are sometimes called to fix them despite the prohibitions of Shabbat and yom tov. The Rabbinate and kashrut authorities are aware of these situations. In farms owned by Shabbat-observant individuals (“halav dati”), a trained non-Jewish professional is stationed in advance to handle malfunctions.
When it comes to operating an entire dairy manufacturing plant, the situation is entirely different. Non-Jewish workers who are inexperienced in running such operations will inevitably need assistance from several of the regular Jewish staff. That would directly and knowingly involve desecration of Shabbat and yom tov. Moreover, the management of the dairy itself would not allow milk collection or processing without supervision by experienced Jewish personnel. No one off the street can run machinery, monitor fermentation, maintain precise temperatures, or manage the flow of thousands of liters of product without halting the entire system. Pretending a handful of outsiders could manage the plant is not only impractical; it is self-deceptive. It avoids facing the real logistical challenges and the need for thoughtful, planned solutions.
For more than 70 years, the Chief Rabbinate has managed this balance with diligence. It ensures fresh milk and dairy products keep flowing while upholding Shabbat and holiday observance. The Rabbinate does not block agriculture; on the contrary, it enforces strict kashrut standards, often with minimal resources, while coordinating with farmers and manufacturers to maintain supply. Attempts to cast the Rabbinate as the obstacle to milk availability ignore this long-standing, careful management.
This issue is not merely about production; it is a matter of Jewish law. Operating a large-scale dairy on Shabbat or yom tov involves multiple forms of melacha (tasks that are prohibited on those days) and cannot be done by untrained personnel. With proper planning, both halachic standards and public needs can be fully met.
Beyond the technicalities, the broader concern is blame. Pinning a potential shortage on the Rabbinate is misleading. It attempts to turn the very body that safeguards Halacha into a scapegoat for failures in planning, logistics, and market management. Any serious discussion about shortages should focus on careful planning, coordination, and practical solutions — not undermining the Rabbinate or its decades of diligent oversight. Shifting responsibility to the Rabbinate at a sensitive time is both impractical and deceptive
