Kosher Disunity

According to Rabbi Ezra Friedman of the Jacobs Center for Kashrut Education there are a number of factors which interfere with the smooth running of the kosher food enterprise in Israel.

It begins with the fact that there are two chief rabbis running the show. That already portends problems. In addition, not only do THEY have supervision over kashrut matters but there are also private enterprises which do the same thing. Aside from the Chief Rabbinate itself there exists a chief Rabbinical Council consisting of 12 rabbis. The Talmud states on almost every page disputes between two rabbis. One can only imagine the disputes between 12 of them.

Aside from this “central” hierarchy, there exist separate religious councils in each city who have exclusive authority over kashrut in their domain. At times there are discrepancies between the chief rabbis and the local ones causing hardships and animosity.

Another issue is that the local religious councils are beholden to local politics and financial coverage. A well financed local council can supervise all the kosher establishments in its jurisdiction while less well financed councils may not be able to afford enough personnel to do the same. Hence, some restaurants and food establishments go with little or no control over kashrut standards. In addition, when a Rabbinical supervisor retires or leaves the position, the council may not hire a replacement but merely ask a rabbi from another jurisdiction to cover its own. This, of course, provides for very limited control.
Then there is the matter of “Mehadrin” kosher which simply means a higher level of kashrut but has no basis in Jewish law. This often causes disputes between different authorities. It is important to note that not all mehadrin standards are equal which further exasperates unity.
Why is all the above mentioned? Because the original purpose of setting up a Chief Rabbinate system was to create unity amongst the Jews in Israel. It is sad that especially in the area of kosher food – a Biblical commandment – there is disunity.