Minister of Religious Affairs Michael Malkieli is postponing for the second time the entry into force of his predecessor Matan Kahane's kashrut reform, against the backdrop of the establishment of a team to formulate an alternative on the issue. Israel Hayom received the Minister of Religious Affairs' draft decree intended to postpone once again the implementation of the reform, which was supposed to come into effect at the beginning of the year, in order to "allow the institutional kashrut system to continue operating in its current format."
The reform, which allows every food production and sale business to choose which city rabbi will grant them a kosher certificate, was introduced in July 2020. Already when it was introduced, it caused an uproar because it changed the world order in the Chief Rabbinate – after decades in which businesses were forbidden to present themselves as kosher without its approval, the government promoted privatization of kashrut.
Matan Kahane, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
The first phase of the reform, according to which any religious council will be able to provide kosher services anywhere, began last January with very limited success. The second and central stage, which was supposed to begin on January 1, 2023, is much more ambitious: the Rabbinate was supposed to stop providing kosher services and become a regulator that would approve them for private corporations to be established. At the same time, every three city rabbis will be able to provide alternative kashrut services.
As soon as the government was sworn in, the Minister of Religious Affairs froze the kashrut reform for six months. At the time, ultra-Orthodox sources told Israel Hayom that "this reform should disappear from the world." However, it later became clear that this is not so simple, since it needs to be replaced by a reform that, among other things, will sever the relationship between supervised supervisors, by order of the High Court. At the end of last month, Israel Hayom reported that a team led by Minister Malkieli had been established to examine the kashrut system and submit its recommendations within sixty days. This team met for the first time last week.
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