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The seemingly ready to challenge any effort to compel him to stop issuing, or even altering, his kashrut certificates as a result of a decision of the Attorney General's Office on Thursday that ostensibly prohibited him from Organization to issue such documents. adopted a narrow interpretation of the decision of the High Court of Justice last year that violated the kashrut monopoly of the chief rabbinate and for the first time gave a legal margin for independent monitoring of kashrut.
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But Tzohar said Friday that the Attorney General's decision was a "cachet cachet" for his surveillance service, and said that "his policies", is to say its certificates, "are in accordance with the law, the court, and the Attorney General."
This post could foreshadow a new fight in the courts, and the High Court of Justice, this time on the independent organizations of kashrut kashrut surveillance have in the way they present kosher restaurants
The decision of the HCJ in September 2017 stipulated that "a restaurant that does not have a certificate of kosher [from the Chief Rabbinate] can not present itself as a kosher ", but says that he can give" a true written presentation that details the
Tzohar then launched his kashrut surveillance service in February of this year, and provides the 100 companies under his authority with certificates bearing information on the kashrut standards used, as well as the name of its supervisory service, Tzohar-Food Inspection, and its logo on the document.
The Chief Rabbinate strongly opposed the decision and opposed the Tzohar certificates and requested a hearing from the Attorney General's office held in January 2018. [19659002] At the time, Tzohar had not yet launched his kashrut service, but the pioneer of independent surveillance of the kashrut called Hashgacha Pratit had already updated.
The Attorney General's Office ruled on Thursday that a business owner may detail in a certificate "the standards that he uses himself when dealing with food products", and that it can specify the person or organization that provides the inspection service used to maintain these standards.
But the decision apparently means that only the bus The owner himself, and not the inspection authority, can produce the certificate since he states that "the public display of & # 39; A document signed by an external agent "exceeds the limits of the High Court decision.
in his decision, claiming that the public display of a document that includes a "formal authorization by the inspection authority" was inconsistent with the decision of the High Court, and that "even using an inspection authority logo as part of a public display of an authorization by the external agent [inspection] and is therefore immeasurable with the decision [High Court].
The example of certificate used by the Attorney General's office was in fact that of Hashgacha Pratit, since the hearing took place before Tzohar started his kashrut service.
Tzohar insisted on Friday that his certificates were in agreement with the Attorney General s interpretation of the law.
"The certificates have no kashrut presentation by us, so we welcome a lot of the regulations and will respect them, "said Tzohar.
The organization seems to be relying on the fact that its certificates do not use terms such as "kosher", "surveillance" and "in accordance with Jewish law", which were expressly prohibited by the High Court.
It is hard to see how Tzohar insists that his certificates with the new decision, given the Attorney General's determination that the certificates do not carry a logo, as do Tzohar's certificates.
Similarly, it is not clear that Tzohar's kashruth service will be damaged if he is forced to remove his logo. or even ask the conservators to produce the certificates themselves, since Tzohar's brand and reputation are widely recognized by the general public, especially the secular public
Rabbi Rafi, co-president of Tzohar Feuerstein told the Jerusalem Post that the organization could reposition its logo on its kashrut declaration document to put it at the bottom of the page, but the decision did not change anything substantive. He also said the decision would not tarnish Tzohar's kashrut service.
"This will not hinder our growth, people want it, and they are satisfied with it," said Feuerstein, adding that the organization was not worried. the chief rabbinate could start imposing fines on his restaurants saying that such fines "would not disturb anyone".
The Chief Rabbinate insisted that the Attorney General's decision ensures that Tzohar's certificates themselves are not legal. like the logo they're wearing, and that only the business owner can produce a certificate.
It is not clear though whether the use of a standard certificate template provided by Tzohar, but without his logo, is enforceable.
Chief Rabbinat said in his statement after the ruling that "the High Court pointed out that the provision of alternative certificates of kashrut by external kashrut bodies is a criminal offense under the law against Kashr. He added that the body has invested a lot of time and resources in planning improvements to his kashrut service to deal with "deficiencies that have been raised by, inter alia, the state controller," and stated that "the desire "Rabbi" the rabbinate of the outside in the field of kashrut arouses surprise.
Rabbi Aharon Leibowitz, the founder of Hashgacha Pratit, expressed his disappointment at the decision of the Attorney General and stated that he served the interests of those seeking to "It is quite clear that the decision of the High Court was designed to allow the operation of the private inspection authorities, due to the continued failure of the Chief Rabbinate to solve the many problems of his kashrut system, "said Leibowitz.
"Quality and professional kashrut long-term publishing that there is competition." Decades of decline in the field of kashrut have proved that without competition, the chief rabbinate has everything simply no interest in improving. "
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