Knesset panel okays kosher reform bill, clearing it for final votes

The Knesset’s Jewish Religious Services Committee approves a bill to reform the kosher certification industry, clearing it for the final votes it must pass to become law.

The proposal, which calls for the establishment of a series of private kosher certification agencies that will be required to uphold religious standards established by the Chief Rabbinate, must now clear its second and third plenum readings.

“We broke the monopoly, opened up kosher [certification] to healthy competition and proved that no one has exclusivity over religion,” Yisrael Beytenu MK Yulia Malinovsky, who chairs the committee, tweets after the bill is approved.

A group of kashrut supervisors protest in Tel Aviv against Religious Affairs Minister Matan Kahane, who backs the proposed legislation.

“The reform of kashrut is the destruction of kashrut,” one sign at the protest reads.

בעקבות אישור הרפורמה בכשרות בוועדה: עשרות עובדי מערכת הכשרות מפגינים ברחוב אבן גבירול בתל אביב נגד השר כהנא – "זאת רפורמת הרס הכשרות. אלפי אנשים יפוטרו" @AkivaWeisz pic.twitter.com/tdY0ZhDY4e

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) October 27, 2021

The proposed law is opposed by the Chief Rabbinate, which has long resisted any reforms to its monopoly and has sought to quash private competing agencies.