A Meaningless Change In Israeli Kashrut

One of the weirdest conversations I’ve ever heard was at a family event where the Orthodox members of my ex-wife’s family discussed kashrut (kosher food) in Israel.

Their consensus was that it was really, really difficult to keep kosher in Israel, even in Jerusalem. This, of course, was the exact opposite of my experience where it was virtually impossible to not keep kosher in Jerusalem. Just try finding an open restaurant in a Jewish neighborhood on Shabbat. They exist, but they are very well hidden. If you find one prepare to wait a long time to be seated.

Apparently the real problem is that many Orthodox Jews do not “hold by the Rabbinate.” What this means in English is that a lot of Orthodox Jews do not trust the official state-sanctioned local rabbinical councils. So instead they look for the supervision of Badatz, the Haredi kashrut authority. This same Badatz is also the seat of power for the non-Zionist and anti-Zionist Haredim.

The local city rabbinical councils, branches of the Chief Rabbinate, are notoriously corrupt. So now the Israeli government has decided to create a national kashrut supervising agency under the Haredi-controlled Ministry of Religions.

Here’s the really funny part. The Chief Rabbinate, its local religious councils and Ministry of Religions are actually simultaneously despised by and completely under the control of Badatz and its allies! They despise them because they operate under the framework of the supposedly secular state. They control them because it increases their power. So this new change is meaningless. It’s also going to be expensive because of the brand new layer of Haredi patronage that will result.

I have no idea if my ex-wife and her family will now “hold by the Rabbinate” or the Ministry, but thanks to this new bureaucracy, their lunch will be more expensive, if not more kosher.