אלו ואלו דברי אלקים חיים
All the Disputants Represent the Words of The Living Gd

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Absolutely NOT a Kosher Certificate

   The idiotic Israeli law makes it a crime for us to inform you that the food served in this establishment is Kosher.

   We, as law abiding citizens, will not breach the law which is so evil that it even prohibits alluding to the true fact that the food served in this establishment is Kosher.

   The Chief Rabbi's Office prohibits us from speaking the truth - so we will not say, "The food here is absolutely Kosher."

​   But this is what we can say: IF the Chief Rabbi's Office would permit us to speak the truth, we would say that not only is the food served here absolutely Kosher but it is also free of any bribery paid to the Chief Rabbi's Office.

Israeli Restaurants Are Working Around the Rabbinate’s Kosher Certification Stranglehold link

A growing number of Israeli restaurants are abandoning the Government Rabbanut Kosher service, and obtaining certification administered by an organization called Hashgacha Pratit, or ‘private supervision’

Inside the boutique Eden Hotel, a certificate on the wall declares: “The community can eat with us safely.” It’s signed by the hotel’s owner and by an Orthodox rabbi. This certificate must avoid using the word "Kosher" because it is a criminal offence for anyone or organisation other than the government Rabbanut, to use the word "Kosher".
But there are many creative ways to communicate to customers that foods and kitchens are genuinely kosher and they are all explored and employed by certifiers not endorsed by the state-run Israeli rabbinate—the only legal body permitted to provide "Kosher" supervision in the country.

Many have criticised the rabbinate of corruption in their kosher certification service. There is growing public concern about the monopoly the Rabbanut wields. It's not just the costs, which a recent finance ministry report found adds five percent to the cost of food, it leads to compromised Kosher standards.

Yiddishe Kepp - Jewish Heads - however, enjoy bypassing the Israeli rabbinate’s stronghold on this certification process. Restaurants like Eden get creative with the language they use on the certificates they display.

A recent Supreme Court ruling in Israel strengthened this law that prevents all but the rabbinate to issue Kosher supervision certificates using the word “kosher” and other terms associated with the upkeep of Kosher dietary laws, such as “halacha” and “hashgacha.”

Aaron Leibowitz, an orthodox rabbi provides these camouflaged, Kosher certification services and a growing number of diners are quite unfazed by the nudge nudge, nod nod wink wink Kosher services. It is another sign of the growing grass-roots efforts in Israel to welcome and encourage competitors to do battle with the rabbinate.

Three years ago two Jerusalem restaurants were fined for allegedly using the word “kosher” outside the auspices of the rabbinate. They took their case against the state-run institution to court, arguing that the ban on the word kosher infringed on their right of freedom to do business. With help from the Israel Religious Action Centre, which advocates for pluralism and the freedom of religion, the restaurants’ case eventually went all the way to the Supreme Court, before their appeal was ultimately denied.

Disappointed by the June ruling that only upheld and strengthened the existing law, the restaurants have requested an additional hearing.

HIGH COURT WEAKENS CHIEF RABBINATE'S MONOPOLY link
BY JEREMY SHARON, SEPTEMBER 12, 2017 20:17
 
The High Court of Justice,dismissed the request of the Rabbanut, by permitting food establishments to describe in broad terms the Kashrut standards they maintain, although the words Kosher and similar words, may not be used. This is a significant disruption to the Chief Rabbinate’s moves to monopolise Kashrut licensing.

Following this decision the national-religious Tzohar rabbinical association stated their intention to establish their own kashrut services.

Supreme Court President Miriam Naor said the Law Against Kashrut Fraud was designed to ensure that food is honestly represented regarding its kashrut status. She ruled therefore that “a food establishment which does not have a kashrut certificate [from the rabbinate] cannot present itself as kosher, but this does not prevent it from giving a true presentation in writing which details the standards it observes and the way these standards are inspected.”

However, notice must be given that the business does not have a kashrut certificate from the rabbinate.

Naor wrote that “the choice of whether or not to eat at such a food establishment should be in the hands of the consumer. Each person [can act] in accordance with his own preference and the level of stringency he chooses.”

Hashgacha Pratit, a group that has long been fighting the Rabbanut on these matters, uses such language to provide kashrut supervision for restaurants and other food businesses that were fed up with the often substandard and corrupt rabbinate service.

A High Court decision in June 2016 tightened these loopholes but that did not stop Hashgacha Pratit. 

This most recent decision restores the law to what it was before the June 2016 ruling, giving Hashgacha Pratit greater scope to look and sound like an authentic Kosher certifier and prompting the Rabbanut to claim that Kashrut will be damaged and consumers who were not expert in the required standards of Jewish law would be deceived.

Rabbi Aharon Leibowitz, Hashgacha Pratit founder, Orthodox rabbi and yeshiva dean said the decision gave a tailwind to his organization’s struggle against the “failing and fraudulent kashrut monopoly” of the Chief Rabbinate, and that it would change the kashrut market in the country.

“Anyone who knows the field knows that long-term, quality kashrut is only possible when there is competition,” the rabbi said.

“Hashgacha Pratit arose from a grassroots demand of customers for whom it was more important that food be truly kosher than that the logo of the Chief Rabbinate be on the wall. After decades of deterioration in the level of kashrut in Israel, the High Court has recognized today the supremacy of kashrut over a certificate from the Chief Rabbinate.”

Chief Rabbi David Lau said that “as an institution trusted on the issue of kashrut, the Chief Rabbinate will continue to provide the highest quality kashrut for the Jewish people.”