An emergency meeting was held at Zeviehl Hall last Thursday
(10 Iyar) to protest the destruction of the Jerusalem kashrus
department. The gathering, organized at the behest of
maranan verabonon, was a great act of kiddush
Hashem and proof all streams of the chareidi public are
deeply disturbed over the damage done to the Jerusalem
Rabbinate through the takeover of the Religious Affairs
Council by Likud Party officials.
The gathering, which drew Litvak and Chassidic rabbonim
representing both Degel HaTorah and Agudas Yisroel alike,
opened with the recital of a chapter of Tehillim led
by HaRav Chaim Green, one of the roshei yeshiva of Yeshivas
Zera Yitzchok.
The emcee and first speaker, Rabbi Eli Weinman, a member of
the executive board of Degel HaTorah in Jerusalem, explained,
"We have gathered here today for an emergency meeting to
discuss the destruction of the kashrus system in the King's
Palace, Yerushalayim Ir Hakodesh, by officials who do
not heed maranan verabonon shlita, and who go against
their opinions . . . Based on a call by maranan verabonon
shlita, we have gathered under the leadership of the
rabbonim geonim shlita and the respective boards of
Degel HaTorah and Agudas Yisroel, which represent the
majority of chareidim ledvar Hashem in Jerusalem, to
give voice to an outcry and to protest the transformation of
the kashrus system of Yerushalayim, built up through years of
hard work and sweat and which in the past operated under the
directives of maranan verabonon gedolei Yisroel
shlita, without deviating in the least from the path they
set."
Rabbi Weinman then went on to describe the recent rapid
decline of the Jerusalem Rabbinate, "a kashrus system that
stands as an example, without equal in the Rabbinate kashrus
system, and which even taught other rabbinates in the cities
of Eretz Hakodesh to heed maranan verabonon shlita in
the matter of kashrus."
He also voiced concerns other cities could follow suit if no
action is taken. "In addition to the destruction of the walls
of kashrus in the King's Palace, there is a risk that,
chas vesholom, these lamentable acts will influence
other cities, which could learn from their wayward acts."
HaRav Meir Horowitz, the rav of the Chassidei Boston
kehilloh and the son of the Bostoner Rebbe, called for
an announcement stating no restaurants or hotels with
Jerusalem Rabbinate kashrus certification are kosher
lemehadrin, and enacting a directive forbidding
mashgichim from declaring any restaurant or hotel
kosher lemehadrin. He also proposed encouraging Jewish
visitors from chutz la'Aretz to raise an outcry and to
avoid hotels supervised by the Jerusalem Rabbinate in order
to apply pressure on the Religious Affairs Council.
"Chareidi Jewry chose to give power to the Likud Party," said
MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni, "because it is a traditional party and
we asked and expected that Judaism would remain as it is and
that all that is dear and sacred to us would be preserved.
But it turns out that the food has whet their appetites and
suddenly they are rendering decisions in kashrus matters as
well. Who to grant [kashrus certification] to, who not to
grant [kashrus certification] to. This is unmatched chutzpah
. . . which is liable to break the ties between the Likud and
the chareidi public. If you think we gave you power in order
to decide in matters of kashrus as well and to decide who the
rabbonim will be, you are wrong. Beware."
HaRav Ephraim Tzemmel, chairman of Degel HaTorah in
Jerusalem, spoke of the pain he witnessed during a recent
visit with Maran HaRav Eliashiv, shlita, over the
terrible decline of the Jerusalem Rabbinate. HaRav Shmuel
Deutsch, one of the roshei yeshiva of Yeshivas Kol Torah,
warned that the decline would not stop with kashrus, but
would eventually affect other halachic matters under the
Jerusalem Rabbinate such as marriage and conversion. Rabbi
Menachem Porush, chairman of Agudas Yisroel in Jerusalem,
emphasized the urgency of speaking out. And MK Rabbi Meir
Porush pointed out the power the chareidi public yields in
Jerusalem compared to the impotence of the Likud Party in the
city.
Following the speeches Rabbi Weinman read aloud a series of
decisions:
A. The conference expresses its shock and trepidation over
the decline of religious services and kashrus in the Holy
City of Jerusalem, the King's Palace.
B. The dismissal of rabbonim due to the interests and
considerations of officials without a decision by the beis
din is a tragedy that cannot be tolerated or
accommodated.
C. Kashrus and halacha fall under the exclusive authority of
rabbonim and dayonim and it is unthinkable for
officials to interfere with the instructions of rabbonim.
D. The conference requests that whoever is in a position to
act do so immediately to rectify the situation and to stop
the general trend in this matter to prevent it from serving
as a precedent for the destruction of religious services
around the country.
The conference was well organized on very short notice by
Deputy Mayor Rabbi Uri Maklev and MK Rabbi Meir Porush.
Rabbonim in attendance included HaRav Ezriel Auerbach, HaRav
Yitzchok Ezrachi, HaRav Moshe Schlesinger, HaRav Aryeh Dvir,
HaRav Moshe Man, HaRav Moshe Frank, HaRav Aryeh Eliashiv,
HaRav Shimon Chadad and HaRav Yechiel Turjeman representing
Degel HaTorah, as well as HaRav Avrohom Dovid Auerbach, HaRav
Ze'ev Ernster, HaRav Meir Heisler, HaRav Yisroel Eliezer
Hagar, HaRav Levy Yitzchok Halperin, HaRav Shlomo Weinberg,
HaRav Meir Zilberstein and HaRav Yaakov Sofer representing
Agudas Yisroel.
A long list of prominent figures from both parties were also
on hand. These included the mayor of Yerushalayim, the
members of the city council from both Degel Hatorah and
Agudas Yisroel, Members of Knesset from Degel Hatorah, and
many more.
*
Following the dramatic emergency conference MKs Rabbi Gafni
and Rabbi Porush contacted Yisrael Maimon, the secretary of
the Prime Minister's Office, to demand an urgent meeting with
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to discuss the dire situation at
the Jerusalem Religious Affairs Council. Maimon notified them
a meeting would be set as soon as possible following the
Prime Minister's return from the US in the coming days.
Speaking in the Knesset earlier last week, Rabbi Meir Porush
said, "Jerusalem residents do not have religious services."
Rabbi Porush was addressing the Knesset plenum during a
discussion of the government's request to transfer authority
over religious services from the Prime Minister's Office to
the Justice Ministry.
Rabbi Porush held the Likud and its political activists in
Jerusalem responsible for the current situation. "Perhaps the
solution for religious services is to transfer them from the
Prime Minister's Office to the Justice Ministry, although the
Likud is there, too. But perhaps by doing so at least they
will stop handling everything related to religious services
in the worst possible way."
Rabbi Porush went on to make cutting remarks about operations
at the Jerusalem Religious Affairs Council. "The Likud
brought in new management at the Jerusalem Religious Affairs
Council and rabbonim are quitting in order to absolve
themselves of responsibility for what is taking place there.
One after the next. HaRav Binyomin Adler, the rav
posek of the kashrus department, left. HaRav Yosef
Efrati, the rav posek of the department for Eretz
Yisroel mitzvas, absolved himself of responsibility for what
is taking place in the department. And all this is being done
by a fringe group of the political community in Jerusalem,
the Likud, which barely has two mandates [on the city
council]."
He also named a long list of prominent rabbonim, HaRav Chaim
Pinchas Scheinberg, HaRav Shmuel Auerbach, the Admor of
Erlau, HaRav A.P. Rabinovitz, HaRav Y. Grossman and dozens of
other rabbonim from various Jerusalem neighborhoods, who have
spoken out against recent developments at the Jerusalem
Religious Affairs Council, yet officials there remain
stubborn, continuing to operate as they see fit, trampling
over all that was built in the past.
Rabbi Porush also said when it was decided to close the
Religious Affairs Ministry representatives of the chareidi
public voiced their objections, saying that state services
could not be managed smoothly without a ministry in charge
and that before the ministry is closed the administration of
religious services must be transferred to another ministry in
an orderly fashion, otherwise religious services would
collapse. And this is just what is happening: over two years
after the decision to close the Religious Affairs Ministry no
acceptable arrangement has been made to provide religious
services.
