A landmark decision to recognize Tzohar Kashrut as an official kashrut certification body was thrown into uncertainty on Thursday after Israel’s Chief Rabbinate Council announced it was freezing the license only hours after it had been granted.
Earlier in the day, Chief Rabbinate Director-General Yehuda Cohen approved Tzohar Kashrut as an official certifying body, marking the first time the Orthodox Zionist rabbinical organization had received authorization to issue official kosher certification under Israel’s kashrut reforms.
Tzohar welcomed the move as a historic milestone after years of legal and regulatory efforts, saying it would strengthen transparency, professionalism and consumer confidence while increasing competition in Israel’s kosher certification system.
“This is a very important step toward further strengthening Israel’s official kashrut system with professionalism and oversight that is first and foremost based on halacha, and a real sense of responsibility for the interests and needs of the general public,” said Rabbi Emmanuel Guedj, director of Tzohar Kashrut.
“Our vision since the onset has been to operate a halachic and professional kashrut system while ensuring full transparency so that we can increase kashrut observance in Israel and provide an accessible option for business owners and consumers.”
Within hours of the announcement, however, the Chief Rabbinate Council said it “does not approve the granting of the license to the organization at this stage” and announced that it was freezing the authorization.
In a letter, the council said Cohen had failed to bring the matter before either the Chief Rabbinate Council or its Kashrut Committee before issuing the license.
“Despite the fact that he was required to do so by law, by logic and by proper administrative rules, the director-general did not inform us at all regarding his intention to grant the license,” the Council wrote, adding that the issue had never been discussed by the relevant bodies.
Earlier Thursday, Yehuda Avidan, director-general of Israel’s Religious Services Ministry, sent an urgent letter to Deputy Attorney General Carmit Yulis and the Chief Rabbinate’s legal adviser, Ofer Yaakov, arguing that the license had been issued without the legally required approval of the Chief Rabbinate Council.
According to Avidan, Chief Rabbi Kalman Meir Bar, president of the Chief Rabbinate Council, confirmed that neither he nor the council had been asked to consider or approve the decision.
Tzohar Kashrut was established in 2018 and now supervises hundreds of restaurants, hotels and food production facilities. The organization says its model maintains a strict professional and financial separation between kashrut supervisors and business owners, a system designed to increase transparency and public trust while adhering to halachic standards.
The dispute centers on Israel’s ongoing implementation of reforms to the country’s kosher certification system, which allow recognized independent certifying bodies to operate under the supervision of the Chief Rabbinate rather than relying exclusively on local rabbinates.
Tzohar Kashrut said in response that the Religious Services Ministry director-general has “no authority whatsoever” over the granting of kashrut certification licenses. It said that under Israeli law, only the director-general of the Chief Rabbinate has the authority to issue such licenses, and that Tzohar’s approval was granted accordingly.
Tzohar also said the Chief Rabbinate Council had long been aware of its application and had addressed the matter in its responses to petitions before the High Court of Justice, choosing instead to raise what it described as procedural rather than kashrut-related objections.
“Hundreds of businesses supervised by Tzohar Kashrut, and more importantly the hundreds of thousands of their customers, have been able since last night to eat at establishments certified by Tzohar with the authority and approval of the Chief Rabbinate,” the organization said.
Tzohar added that it provides “excellent kashrut in full accordance with halacha” and called on consumers and business owners to adopt its certification.
The dramatic developments unfolded on the 17th of Tammuz, the Jewish fast day marking the beginning of the Three Weeks leading up to Tisha B’Av, a period of national mourning over the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem.
