The kashrus of the Jewish table has always been a central
foundation of the life of the chareidi public. In the past a
Jew would pluck fruit from his orchard after verifying they
were not orloh, separate terumos and
ma'asros and check them for worms and insects, and he
would send his cow or sheep or goat to be shechted,
checked and kashered. In the past generation, however, the
majority of the observant public has come to rely on the
various kashrus committees engaged in inspecting and
supervising to ensure only kosher food products reached their
tables.
The chareidi public in general and the Torah public in
particular rely on chareidi kashrus organizations known for
their adherence to every detail of halacha, particularly
Shearis Yisroel. Official, formal kashrus overseen by the
offices of the national and local rabbinates as well as the
various Religious Affairs Councils has not won much
confidence — in most cases since as is well-known that
the "government label" provides no advantage and kashrus must
be checked in accordance with the circumstances.
The central question regarding any hechsher is: "Who
is the baal habayis?" Who are the workers and
mashgichim accountable to? Therefore it is essential
to know who guides a given hechsher, how its standards
are set and the supervisory procedures it follows. The
various state-sponsored rabbinates were generally not subject
to any Torah-based or halachic authority we accept, therefore
it suffered from a total lack of trust to the point where it
acquired an image of a hechsher for secular Jews
alone. Only Jews who are "traditional" and who just want to
avoid clearly forbidden foods relied on kashrus of this
kind.
In a few isolated cases the official kashrus system
maintained a suitable oversight to ensure kashrus
lemehadrin. This was a major turning point that won
the public's faith. Food manufacturers and eating
establishments (i.e. restaurants and hotels) benefited from
this development as they discovered kashrus consumers in
general, in Eretz Yisroel and abroad, were suddenly willing
to partake of food that bore only a government kashrus seal
but which was clearly distinguished as "kashrus
lemehadrin" rather than regular Rabbinate kashrus.
Over time the national-religious and traditional sectors also
began to demand kashrus lemehadrin after more and more
Jews decided that a regular kashrus seal was not enough, but
wanted to be sure of the kashrus of the food they ate.
Of course "kashrus lemehadrin" is not an abstract or
empty concept. Only government kashrus organizations that
subject themselves to a halachic authority accepted by the
yirei'im is worthy of such a title. Only clear
recognition that the hechsher is run by rabbonim who
subordinate themselves to gedolei Torah who are guided
solely by daas Torah brings them this special
trust.
The Department for Land of Israel Mitzvas at the Jerusalem
Rabbinate held a place of honor as an organization that
practiced kashrus hiddurim in accordance with the
opinions of gedolei Yisroel. As Maran HaRav Eliashiv,
shlita, wrote in a letter at the end of 5760, shortly
before the last Shmittah year began, " . . . And
therefore I, too, will lend a hand in all you do, and all of
the chareidim ledvar Hashem will know they can rely on
the [exacting] kashrus supervision of the Department for Land
of Israel Mitzvas in Jerusalem—i>yochlu anovim
veyisbo'u . . . "
Unfortunately the recent developments in the department that
compelled its rav posek to announce that he would no
longer be responsible for its kashrus have transformed this
kashrus organization into one without top-grade halachic
authority, leaving it to be led and managed by officials and
politicians, making it no different from any other government
kashrus organization, and certain to lose the public trust it
acquired through great efforts.
