The Rishon Letzion Sephardic Chief Rabbi has issued
directives to grant kashrus certification to marketers of
sefichin produce even to those who have violated the
Jerusalem Chief Rabbinate kashrus guidelines. He announced
his decision at a meeting with the director of the Kashrus
Department of the Jerusalem Religious Affairs Council, Rabbi
Yehoshua Pollack. The meeting ended in a stalemate after the
Rishon Letzion absolved himself of all obligations he made
to enable any local rabbinate wishing to market only non-
sefichin produce to do so.
A few weeks ago, Yated Ne'eman reported that Chief
Rabbinate officials had come to the Jerusalem Co-op chain
(which was then under the supervision of the Jerusalem
rabbinate, not the Chief Rabbinate) warehouse to examine
claims of a shortage of non-sefichin produce. The
Jerusalem Chief Rabbinate reacted to this by stating that
the measure taken by the Chief Rabbinate was very serious,
and had resulted in problems among other dealers in the
Jerusalem wholesale produce market who, seeing the
intervention of the Chief Rabbinate, then refused to submit
to the directives of the Jerusalem Rabbinate kashrus
supervision.
It should be noted that these machinations of the Chief
Rabbinate were not coordinated with the Jerusalem Rabbinate.
The Jerusalem Rabbinate said that claims of the Co-op with
respect to a shortage of produce are not true: there is no
shortage of non-sefichin produce.
At the beginning of last week, supervision was removed from
the Jerusalem Co-op chain due to its violation of the
kashrus directives of the Department for Land Related
Mitzvos in the Jerusalem Rabbinate.
Last week, the director of the Co-op chain wrote to the
Chief Rabbi, demanding a kashrus certificate for the sale of
heter mechirah produce. Chief Rabbi Bakshi-Doron told
Yated that he had received such a request from the
director of the Co- op, but that no decision had been
issued. "We did make a basic decision that we would not
refrain from giving a kashrus certificate to those who
market hetter mechirah produce," he said.
At first, rabbinical circles had hoped that the Chief Rabbi
would keep his promise not to interfere in local rabbinate
decisions and would not aid marketing of forbidden
sefichin produce. However, on Thursday 23 Teves it
was learned that the Rishon Letzion himself was behind the
decision to grant the kashrus certificate to the
sefichin marketers. The Rishon Letzion is the one
behind efforts to forcibly impose the sale of forbidden
sefichin produce even in places where the local
rabbinate wants to prevent this - - all in violation of his
former promises.
This episode has aroused shock in the shomrei Torah
community. Rabbonim and morei horo'oh have reacted
sharply, saying that this constitutes an unprecedented step
in which the Chief Rabbi is trying to forcibly impose the
sale of forbidden produce and to undermine the kashrus
authority of the local rabbinates seeking to conduct
themselves according to the rulings of maranan
verabonon.
On 24 Teves it was learned that Religious Affairs Minister
Yossi Beilin has praised the decision of the Rishon Letzion
and the Chief Rabbinate. Beilin added that he hopes that the
appointed committee soon to replace the Jerusalem Religious
Council will act in the spirit of this decision. Rabbonim
and public figures said that the fact that the Rishon
Letzion has received backing from figures known for their
attempts to undermine the foundations of halocho
alludes to the danger of this precedent.
On 23 Teves, those who support the hetter in the
Chief Rabbinate received the backing of MK Shaul Yahalom
(Mafdal), who threatened to appeal to the Supreme Court if
the Rabbinate did not reinstate the kashrus certificates.
The director of the Kashrus Department in the Chief
Rabbinate, Yaakov Sabag, as well as Refael Dayan, assistant
to the Rishon Letzion, declared in a letter to the Attorney
General: "The halachic policy of the Council of the
Chief Rabbinate is to enable the sale of hetter
mechirah fruits and vegetables, and this also applies to
the local rabbinate and to the Religious Council of
Jerusalem."
Attorney General Eliakim Rubinstein informed the Vegetable
Marketing Board: "The rabbinate will enable farmers
functioning in accordance with the hetter mechirah to
sell their produce in all of the country's cities, including
Jerusalem, even during the current shmittah year."
The following is the response of the Jerusalem Rabbinate:
"From Yahalom's letter, it seems as if the Chief Rabbinate
and its staff are violating the promise given by Rabbi
Bakshi-Doron to help every local rabbinate which does not
want to market sefichin produce. The reaction of
Chief Rabbi Bakshi- Doron to Yated Ne'eman and his
remarks after his meeting with the director of the Kashrus
Department of the Religious Council indicate that the Chief
Rabbi himself wants to retract promises given by him in
writing which were publicized at the time in the press. We
are certain that Chief Rabbi Yisroel Meir Lau and other
members of the Council of the Chief Rabbinate will act in
accordance with halocho to prevent the tremendous
chilul Hashem which will be caused by a religious
Knesset member's appealing to the Supreme Court to enable
the introduction of forbidden produce to the housewives'
market baskets."
The Jerusalem Rabbinate added: "The Jerusalem Co-op has
violated agreements and has stealthily tried to cause the
overall public to stumble. The Department for Land Related
Mitzvos is grateful to Hakodosh Boruch Hu for the
zechus of being guided by the gedolei hador,
and will continue to function according to their directives
only."
