Rabbi Emanuel Gadag, head of Tzohar’s kashrut system, argues that legislation meant to cancel Israel’s kashrut reform would drag the system back to a centralized model that already failed. He says the real solution is to strengthen the Chief Rabbinate through regulation, transparency and controlled competition, not to restore a monopoly structure.
The article says the current debate is not simply Shas versus Tzohar, or the Rabbinate versus private bodies. It is about whether kashrut in Israel will be repaired through clear rules, oversight and competition, or pushed backward into a system with too much concentrated power. Gadag says this model would again leave business owners and inspectors dependent on a single local mechanism without alternatives.
Gadag responds to attorney Amichai Philber, who has identified real problems in the current system, including conflicts of interest and problematic employment of mashgichim, kashrut supervisors. But he notes that Philber previously wrote in a Kohelet Policy Forum paper that the solution should include private kashrut bodies operating under the supervision and regulation of the Chief Rabbinate, as well as corporate rabbis for large companies and nationwide chains. That, Gadag argues, shows that even Philber once supported a regulated, mixed system rather than closing the market.
The piece says a centralized transfer of all supervisors to local religious councils would not fix corruption, politicized appointments or lack of accountability, but deepen them. It also points to the conflict-of-interest arrangement of Religious Services Ministry director-general Yehuda Avidan as further reason not to concentrate power. Gadag says the goal is not to fight the Chief Rabbinate or local rabbis, but to build a stronger, more trusted system based on standards, oversight, separation of interests and dependable supervision.
