Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the chief rabbi of Safed and a member of the Chief Rabbinate Council, sent a letter to MK Ohad Tal, chairman of the National Projects Committee, welcoming efforts to cancel Israel’s kosher certification reform and urging that the legislation move forward immediately.
In the letter, Eliyahu said, “First I will bless you to succeed in the important mission of canceling the kosher reform, which opened the possibility of fraud in kashrut, contrary to the position of the Chief Rabbinate Council of Israel and the chief rabbis of Israel.” He said the council’s kashrut committee had uncovered serious field problems, including kosher certificates issued to businesses outside the local rabbinate’s jurisdiction “without kashrut procedures and without supervision and enforcement.”
Eliyahu contrasted that with the system in Safed, saying the local rabbinate operates under orderly procedures and a structured oversight system. According to him, Safed uses “well-established kashrut procedures” and employs kashrut supervisors through the religious council, which creates a professional and transparent system for business owners and the public.
He asked Tal to advance the amendment “as soon as possible” in order to prevent “kashrut fraud” against the public, most of whom keep kosher in Israel. He also said the law should include a regulated employment solution for the Chief Rabbinate of Israel’s slaughter teams.
