MK Bezalel Smotrich stated today (Monday), in a discussion of the Interior Committee on the kashrut system in Haifa, which was held at the request of MK Tehala Friedman and MK Elazar Stern: "This is corruption in the most criminal sense. It is forbidden to eat in Haifa today. Anyone who eats there is eating carrion, abominations and filth.".
The hearing was convened in light of the publication of a report by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, which revealed shortcomings in the kashrut system in Haifa, and as stated in the request for the hearing: ""Watch out for large sums of money being transferred without showing a presence in businesses and forging kosher certificates. There is no permanent head of the city's kosher department, there is a temporary position holder. "The members of the unit for enforcing the prohibition of fraud in kosher conducted inspections of a number of businesses. The reality on the ground shows lax to non-existent supervision, forgery of kosher certificates, and deception of the kosher-observing public.".
The committee's deputy chairman, MK Ghadir Kamal Merih, turned to Rabbi Moshe Dagan, who until recently was the director general of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, and will soon be appointed head of the Haifa Religious Council: "You are knowledgeable in the field. What do you think are the changes that need to be made to correct the situation?""
MK Bezalel Smotrich: "We should congratulate you for the courage to publish the report. But what are you doing in the Chief Rabbinate? How is Rabbi Elmaleh still in office? This happened under his watch. How is the police not investigating? You are supposed to make sure that everyone who wants to eat kosher, and enters a restaurant with a kosher certificate, will indeed eat kosher. You published a report that you are supposed to not sleep at night because of what it says. How has this incident been going on for two years? You have known for over two years what is going on there. When the prophet spoke of 'one who loves bribes and pursues bribes,' that is what he meant.".
MK Elazar Stern, initiator of the discussion: ""A situation has arisen in Haifa where the Chief Rabbinate serves the kashrut supervisors and not the kashrut keepers. Religious services in Haifa as a whole suffer from serious problems - the Rabbinate's monopoly on kashrut is not functioning; there is no religious council or city rabbi, and therefore there is in fact no public oversight. This is a combination that leads to a situation where kashrut consumers cannot trust the Rabbinate's certificate. It is unfortunate that the initial association that comes to the mind of the average citizen when he hears about the kashrut system is a lack of transparency.""
MK Tehala Friedman, initiator of the discussion: "I am here to represent the needs of kosher consumers. The goal is for people to be able to eat kosher. There is no dispute that the problems in Haifa are deep. We need to examine the idea of transferring religious services to the municipalities, and not as today as a parallel system. 8 kasher inspectors in Haifa retired and did not appoint their replacements. If 8 street cleaners were to retire and had no replacement, imagine what would happen.".
Rabbi Moshe Dagan: "The questions are pointed, and they are appropriate. The Rabbinate does not have the tools and enforcement capacity, unfortunately. We tried to lead legislation to create such a capacity with local rabbinates. Apart from publishing a report and trying to work in cooperation, there is not much that can be done. There has been no chairman of a religious council in Haifa for 8 years. Where there is no supervision, the supervisors probably did not feel obligated, but it is not right to generalize. The report shows a very exceptional case.".
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