Dismantle the Chief Rabbinate
Quietly, quietly, in the midst of the chaotic times we live in, some of the most bizarre events have recently been added to the ever-growing list of scandals produced by that peculiar entity known as the Chief Rabbinate.
Just days ago, the Ministry of Religious Services advanced a new bill that aims to abolish competition in the kosher certification market and tie the hands of any future government that might attempt to reform the Rabbinate’s kashrut monopoly. The proposal would nationalize the entire Kashrut system, creating over 4,200 new public sector jobs for kashrut supervisors, at an estimated cost of a quarter of a billion NIS.
According to a 2015 Finance Ministry report, roughly 600 million shekels out of the 3.4 billion shekel annual cost of the kashrut system stem directly from the Chief Rabbinate’s monopoly — expenses that could have been saved if competition were allowed. Since then, costs have likely surpassed 4 billion shekels a year. The report, notably, was commissioned when the ultra-Orthodox parties were in the opposition. Since their return to power, no updated cost analysis has ever been conducted.
In other words, the Chief Rabbinate’s kashrut monopoly costs — and will continue to cost — the public an absurd amount of money.
I said “quietly, quietly”, but the truth is that these outrageous steps are being taken loudly and openly, with no trace of embarrassment. The Rabbinate, by now a mafia-like political organization, doesn’t even bother to conceal its intentions.
Just this past week, the Supreme Court heard a petition filed by the Tzohar organization against the Chief Rabbinate, demanding that it be allowed to provide kosher certification under the 2021 law that opened the field to competition. Although the law was passed nearly three years ago, it has never been implemented.
During the hearing, the Rabbinate’s attorney requested yet another delay — two full Knesset sessions — while a representative of the Ministry of Religious Services bluntly admitted: “The government’s policy is that the law will be repealed. There are no regulations, no decisions. It’s possible Tzohar won’t even meet the licensing requirements.”
And it doesn’t end with Kashrut.
Even the Rabbinate’s own certification exams are being run like a fiefdom. A few months ago, following a Supreme Court ruling that allowed women to register for rabbinical certification exams, registration for the upcoming exam — which was supposed to close on Thursday — never opened at all. In simple terms: someone within the Rabbinate decided that if, God forbid, women were to be allowed to take the exam, then no one would be allowed to take it.
About a week and a half ago, the Rabbinate petitioned the Supreme Court to hold another hearing and to delay implementation of the ruling, seeking to maintain the exam in its men-only format for the month of Marcheshvan. The justices, however, were unanimous in their decision: the exclusion of women was not a matter of religious necessity, but of discriminatory policy, and therefore must be struck down.
This chauvinistic attempt at blackmail by the body entrusted with managing the religious sphere of all Jewish Israelis, men and women, religious and secular, is yet another example of why this post-Jewish, anti-religious institution called the Chief Rabbinate should have been dismantled long ago, or at the very least, privatized.
In recent years, largely thanks to social media coverage, horror stories about those representing supposedly moral and divine authority have made headlines: restaurant owners paying fortunes- excuse me, protection money- for kosher certification; supervisors visiting only once a year (or conditioning certification on free meals); Women battling the Rabbinate court just to recieve a ‘Get’, and obsessive scrutiny over a Jew’s tribal lineage or the “wrong” color. Like any true monopoly, corruption has been deeply entrenched within this rotten body. In recent years, several criminal scandals emerged: from a senior employee arrested in a bribery investigation (2019), to non-recognition of conversions or marriages performed outside the Chief Rabbinate, to a fierce battle against alternative bodies like Tzohar.
This behavior, absurd as it seems, precisely reflects the character of those at the top of the (fraudulent) pyramid. Former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger was convicted (2017) of bribery, fraud, and obstruction of justice. Meanwhile, in attempt to equalize the score, the Sephardi Chief Rabbi, Yitzhak Yosef, ignited storms with a slew of racist, chauvinist, and anti-Zionist statements- most notably against equality in military service: “Even for a slacker,” he said during the war, “who does not study in a yeshiva- it is forbidden to enlist.” Why? The terrifying fear he might turn secular (G-od forbid). In one of his lessons, he even threatened that if young yeshiva Bachurim were forced to serve, “we will all move abroad.”
Hashem, help us.
No institution has so thoroughly alienated Jews from Judaism, and so disgustingly profaned the divine, as the Chief Rabbinate. No institution has so degraded the title “rabbi” more than it has. No monopoly is shallower or more superfluous than this extortionist machine, costing Israeli taxpayers tens of millions of shekels annually. A body that could have united religion, instead operates day and night to divide, anger, and sow discord. Unlike in the kuzari, where intentions may be virtuous, in the Chief Rabbinate, both intentions and actions are deeply undesirable.
Even practically, the Rabbinate proves its redundancy in every area under its authority. Its kosher supervision fails even for strict Haredi observant Jews, who rely on private kosher certification. As Gili Malnitzky, a journalist for ‘Kan’, described in an investigation on the Rabbinate’s monopoly: “The people who care most about kashrut don’t count at-all on the Rabbinate’s kashrut system.” For a large part of the religious-Zionist or secular population, the Rabbinate’s kosher seal is entirely superfluous- either due to indifference or because they rely on Tzohar, which is not extorted for funds.
The charade continues with marriage services. Since the founding of the state, the Rabbinate created an aggressive mechanism that fights anyone trying to compete. From the Chief Rabbinate Law, imposing jail on a rabbi who dares to marry a couple outside its umbrella, to forcing couples married abroad in a civil ceremony to divorce under the Rabbinate.
Disconnected. Aggressive. Inefficient.
Just to be clear: this is not a call to shut down religious institutions because they are religious. There is value in private organizations that provide services to those who seek them. Especially in the Jewish state. This is a call to separate institutional religion from the state, to remove political power from bodies responsible for religious services, to fight corrupt monopolies, to allow alternatives, and to save the public millions in tax payer money.
In Pirkei Avot, it is written: “Love work and bear the rabbinate,” where “rabbinate” refers to political authority and those in power. Today, with the Rabbinate de facto turned into political authority, separating the two has never been more important.
The beautiful part of this story is that this is not fate. Judaism- even Orthodox Judaism- is not a deterrent system or traffic police. The Halachic system is not meant to block or control, but to enable a spiritual lifestyle that expresses itself in the practical details of everyday life. It connects the lower world to the higher, allowing flesh-and-blood people to approach the Creator. This is not just slogans: it is a way of life made possible today thanks to organizations like Tzohar, OTS, and Giyur KeHalacha. Even former Minister, Matan Kahana, during his tenure overseeing Religious Services, attempted to privatize the monopoly through reform: canceling political appointments in religious councils, increasing competition among kosher certification corporations, and promoting women as rabbis and council members (the reform fell with the collapse of the “change government”).
The movement over the past few years, aiming to break the monopoly on Israel’s religious services, is successfully making Judaism accessible in a way that is Halachically observant, but also human-centered. A Judaism that recognizes complexity and focuses on the person, not the certificate they carry. A Judaism that is inclusive and enabling rather than extortionist and monopolistic.
Recently, Netanyahu announced plans to establish an Israeli “DOGE” ministry to eliminate unnecessary bodies, remove regulations and bottlenecks, and save the state millions in taxpayer money. I would put the Chief Rabbinate at the very top of the list. The change – via Tzohar and etc.- has already begun.
We just need to give it a push.
