Posted on 08/08/2016 10:11:55 PM PDT by Read Write Repeat
When Yuval and Lin Djamchid decided to open a café in Eden Hotel, their intimate, 24-room hotel in Jerusalem, they knew they wanted it to be kosher, but not to have the traditional supervision from the Jerusalem rabbinate. So they chose Private Supervision, a new movement led by Rabbi Aaron Leibowitz, an Orthodox rabbi who is also a city councilor from the Yerushalmim movement, which is trying to revitalize Jerusalem.
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“It was a matter of principle,” Yuval Djamchid told The Media Line. “We don’t like the Rabbinate and what it represents. We have enough problems without worrying about the Rabbinate. Besides, everything here is kosher, and we are observant ourselves. ”
Some restaurant owners claim the Rabbinate err on the side of strictness. The owners were forced to purchase special, hydroponically-grown vegetables, as they have fewer pests that deem produce non-kosher. There were also complaints of corruption, specifically of kosher supervisors spending only a few minutes each week in each restaurant while still demanding large sums of money.
Djamchid said the rabbinate wanted $500 per month, while Private Supervision asks just $150. He said the inspectors, all women in a field usually dominated by men, are easy to work with. Regardless, Djamchid admitted that he may be losing business because of his choice.
“Jerusalem is a small town and many people know Rabbi Aaron and trust him,” he said. “But we have had events where people say they can’t come because we don’t have the Rabbinate's supervision.”
Founded just two years ago, Private Supervision now works with 27 restaurants in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The Rabbinate recently challenged the new movement in court, where it was ruled that only the Chief Rabbinate can grant an official kosher certification. This caused Private Supervision to remove the word “Kosher” from its certificate.
Instead it reads, “We regard the trust put in us by Rabbi Leibowitz and his team regarding the activities of the business as being of sacred social value. We will make every effort to abide with the conditions they have set for us so that the community can eat with us safely. ”
Private Supervision said they are all about offering an alternative to the traditional establishment.
“The Rabbinate has a monopoly on kashrut, and once there’s a monopoly bad things happen,” said Ayala Falk, the CEO of Private Supervision. “We think that an open market is better for everyone. We present an alternative.”
In the US, there are several bodies that can give kashrut supervision. A spokesperson for the Jerusalem rabbinate was not available to comment, but in the past has said that only the official body of the Rabbinate can make sure that consumers are getting strictly kosher food.
The new movement is part of a growing dissatisfaction with the Israeli Rabbinate. Over the years, the Chief Rabbinate has become more hard-line and ultra-Orthodox. Many modern Orthodox and “traditional” Israelis, who keep kosher but might not keep the Sabbath as strictly, say it’s time for an alternative.
I believe Karaite Jews are correct when it comes to what is and is not Kosher. It is the rigorous and arbitrary rules that men set up which turn people away from God.
I live in Jerusalem. I wish they had posted an image of the certificate issued by this group so that I would know what to avoid.
The article has a picture of the certificate that called the food kosher. Like all leftists, they feint right to go left. The certificate is filled with all of the little the things that signify a particularly rigorous kashrut (kosherness). The left always wins by way of deception.
Gradstein and her ilk are agents of Satan. They themselves, not fervent believers, use the pulpit of their news stories to attack what they personally reject to try to justify their position. I've seen their kind before, and tossed their lies right back in their face. Gradstein has written stories praising circumventing the Israeli Rabbinate for kashrus, praising a couple seeking to push their wedding rites and procedures right up to the net of Jewish law, and I'm sure, if I spent the time, I could find more stories by her praising people who are pushing the traditional envelope of Jewish law. She really should work for Hillary. That would be right up her alley, spreading lies and biased shadings on stories.
I assure you, she does.
EinNYC corrected me. The kosher certificate in the picture at the link is the official one from the Rabbinate, not the fake one. Thank you, EinNYC.
I am so grateful that the Lord, through Peter’s dream in Acts 10, freed us from kosher rules — and that Christianity doesn’t require rules of dress either.
Doesn’t the article also leave out other widely accepted Chareidi alternatives to Rabbinate kashrus? Such as Badatz?
Yes, but Badatz isn’t a way to be lenient.
Don't hold back, FRiend!
Thanks for explaining the fine points of this issue.
I am allowed to eat oysters, but I don’t want to.
God gave Jews an out in this regard!
What makes you think that the laws of kashrut of Orthodox Judaism are "arbitrary rules that men set up?"
Wow. I guess the vowels and punctuation on which all translations of the Bible depend are "arbitrary rules that men set up." After all, they're not in the actual Written Bible. Neither is there any punctuation. It's nothing but a string of 304,000+ consonants. All Bible translations that accept the vowels and punctuation of the Oral Tradition are obviously based on The Doctrines And Commandments Of Men and must be discontinued at once. Someone better transliterate those 304,000 consonants into the Roman alphabet in order to have the Pure Word of G-d.
I've always defended Fundamentalist Protestants from Catholics on this forum, but they need to learn that their quarrel with Catholicism doesn't translate to every other religious controversy.
Yeah, I know. She’s a real peach.
She does bring up a point about regarding that we have multiple hechshers in the US, but doesn’t explain how we handle it. You can walk into any shul kitchen and see a posted list of which hechshers are allowed and which aren’t, or ask your rabbi.
This is one of the ways rabbis communicate with each other and purge the corrupt, presenting Jews with a choice. A rancher in Idaho can’t afford to pay for a hechsher from a Brooklyn rabbi if the halakhic interpretation is an inspection every three months. The rancher instead works with a local rabbinic authority and complies with USDA regulations.
There’s the conflict between two separate ruling authorities. There will always be some sort of debate between the two in civil matters, and it’s up to the individual to exercise free will and make the decision to buy the meat with whatever hechshers they agree with.
No one disagrees how an animal should be killed and butchered for consumption as Torah is very specific about that.
The problem the rabbinate has is that’s it’s constantly presenting its decisions in an extreme manner. The ultra orthodox don’t eat raw fish while modern orthodox don’t have that halakha, so does that mean the civil Israeli government should ban all sushi bars?
There’s really no difference between Karaite and Rabbinic slaughter or butchering for food consumption.
It’s up to the individual Jew to inspect the meat they purchase.
What the differences in Badatz kashrut meat certification?
Ignore. I always confuse “those two.” ;)
Read again Acts 10 the ‘subject’ was NOT making the pig clean for the human consumption, but that NOW ‘gentiles’ were no longer if they believe, considered common. God did NOT create the pig to ever be consumed and HE never changed His mind... Man’s traditions decided ‘pig’ was so tasty that they would changed God’s health laws. Peter never ate God’s created natural garbage disposals.
The main difference is in mixing meat and dairy. The Karaite tax boil a calf in its mothers milk to be literal, so the strict separation of meat and dairy utensils is not required. This is an area which makes Kosher eating, and living very expensive for many.
Yes, you’re correct on that, though I’d give them some leeway and define it as plain meaning and not literal.
What I referred to was what’s considered a kosher slaughter for consumption — there’s really no difference between the two that I can tell so I don’t understand the hechsher controversy.
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