By founder Rabbi Aaron Leibowitz [Learn more at www.kashrut.org.il] “Hashgacha Pratit” is an alternative Kosher Supervision model for restaurants and businesses. Based on Jewish law, mutual trust and cooperation, the project seeks to put the responsibility for kashrut in the hands of the restaurants and the local community. I established “Hashgacha Pratit” as Head of the … [Read more...] about Hashgacha Pratit: An alternative Kosher Supervision model
Will Orthodox Israelis’ revolt against the chief rabbinate spur a domino effect?
Snippets from the article by Amanda Borschel-Dan, Times of Israel [Click for the full TOI article] ... Today, the new poster child of religious civil disobedience wears a knitted kippa. And faced with a recalcitrant Knesset ever fearful of disturbing the tenuous status quo, the movement is employing a strategic shift away from legislation and toward the use of other big guns, … [Read more...] about Will Orthodox Israelis’ revolt against the chief rabbinate spur a domino effect?
Responses to Chief Rabbi Lau’s publicly disdainful anti-pluralism
Friends, we assume you are aware of the public rabbinic debate that ensued following Chief Rabbi Lau's admonishment of Minister Bennett for visiting a Conservative day school in Manhattan. Rabbi Uri Regev has written about it in the Jerusalem Post and the LA Jewish Journal, and many other responses to Rabbi Lau have been coming out on a nearly daily basis. Below, you'll find … [Read more...] about Responses to Chief Rabbi Lau’s publicly disdainful anti-pluralism
J-REC and RRFEI By Rabbi Prof. Michael Chernick
Recently a coalition called J-REC, which RRFEI members may not be familiar with, made its first mission trip to Israel. The J-REC or Jewish Religious Equality Coalition is the brain child of Dov Zakheim, less known as an Orthodox rabbi than as an adviser to the American Defense Department and a neo-con. As a strategist and a lover of Israel Dov has concluded that the … [Read more...] about J-REC and RRFEI By Rabbi Prof. Michael Chernick
Enforcing the Chief Rabbinate’s new, legal kashrut regulations
This year, following a year-long battle with Hiddush, the Chief Rabbinate updated its kashrut regulations to be in accordance with the law. Everyone that has heard of this change has viewed it as revolutionary and a sea change. It comes after decades of religious coercion, and it is important for us to make clear that the intention of Hiddush’s initiative was not to prescribe … [Read more...] about Enforcing the Chief Rabbinate’s new, legal kashrut regulations