In remarks delivered by Rabbi Micha Halevi, the city rabbi of Petah Tikva and head of the Ateret Nehemiah yeshiva at the conference of religious Zionist rabbis in the central region, the rabbi sharply attacked the kashrut reform approved by the government - and clarified: "The opposition of the majority of all rabbis in Israel to the reform is substantive, halachic, and not personal.".
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At the beginning of his remarks at the conference, which took place at the Niguni Chaim synagogue in Petah Tikva, Rabbi Halevi said: "Speaking against the Rabbinate is speaking against the sacred heart of all Israel. Just as when a Torah scroll is in the ark, it is holy, and even if a letter is missing and it needs to be repaired, it remains holy - so is the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and every local rabbi in Israel.
""For every Jew in Israel, even before he has actually met the Rabbinate, the fact that there is a Rabbinate in Israel and a rabbi in his city allows him to feel connected to the sanctity of the Torah.".
With his voice choked with tears, Rabbi Halevi addressed those present and called on them to raise their voices on the level of the rabbinate and kashrut: "How can we not cry? When we speak words that harm this thing - it is an injury to the heart of every Jew. Criticism should be said with the aim of correcting, not destroying.".
Rabbi Halevi then elaborated on the halachic foundations on which supervision is based - and explained that these principles are not observed in a private body: "Don't get me wrong, there needs to be a correction, but the system must maintain an outgoing and incoming supervisor from the Rabbinate, and only on top of that comes the supervision of the private Badatzim. Without the local Rabbinate, the kosher certification of private bodies is not in accordance with Halachah! The Rabbinate is prohibited from cooperating with private bodies that would provide kosher certification without it. The system proposed by the reform is not halachic, it is a system that is not kosher.".
The rabbi added, referring to the required amendments to the kashrut system, and said: "We are not talking here right now about how to amend. To amend so that there will really be a complete inspector in every place? That needs to be amended. But the kosherization of private entities without the rabbinate? In this, I fully identify with the position of the Chief Rabbinate and the majority of all rabbis in Israel that it is halachically forbidden to cooperate with a reform of kashrut without kosher.".
""When you want to fix something, you don't ruin it with a rude foot and talk all day against it, and you don't create something that is fundamentally broken. Let us all be partners in fixing the correct method of halachically correct kosher.""
