Tzohar Organization Files Supreme Court Petition to Reinstate Kosher Certification Reform

Tzohar Food Supervision, which manages the kosher certification system for the Tzohar Rabbinical Organization, has petitioned Israel's Supreme Court against the Knesset, demanding the reinstatement of the kosher certification reform that was canceled last week. The petition argues that the reform's cancellation was part of coalition agreements with the Likud party and that Tzohar was expected to be a primary beneficiary of the reform promoted by former Religious Affairs Minister Matan Kahana. The Supreme Court President, Isaac Amit, will oversee the proceedings. The court has ordered respondents to submit preliminary responses and consider interim injunction requests by August 20.

Last week, the Knesset approved a new state kosher law, officially ending the 2021 reform initiated by Kahana, which had privatized kosher certification, allowing private bodies to issue independent kosher certificates. With the repeal, authority to grant kosher certification returns fully to state control, limited to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, authorized local rabbis, and the military rabbinate for IDF and security facilities.

The new law also addresses internal supervision aspects, notably severing direct financial ties between kosher supervisors and the businesses they oversee to prevent conflicts of interest and commercial pressure. Proponents, including the Chief Rabbinate, argued that privatization caused chaos, allowed non-public rabbis to set private kosher standards, undermined objectivity and reliability, and introduced foreign economic interests from the food industry into the system.