MK Rabbi Menachem Eliezer Moses presented a bill aimed at preventing the High Court from interfering in kashrus matters. The proposal states that kashrus certification is to be granted solely according to halacha and the laws of kashrus.
The proposal is needed following a scandalous High Court decision requiring the rabbinate to grant kashrus certification to an Ashdod restaurant run by a Christian missionary, though the local chief rabbi and the Israel Chief Rabbinate made clear that the establishment is ineligible to receive a kashrus certificate.
In a related development, Shas MKs proposed an amendment to the Chometz Law that would prohibit the sale of chometz on Pesach in any manner, whether public or private. A similar proposal was laid before the Knesset by Kadima MKs.
This bill is also needed because of a warped court interpretation of the existing law, which permits the sale of chometz out of public view. A Jerusalem court determined that chometz sold inside a restaurant or store is not considered in public. According to this interpretation, even a supermarket with hundreds of customers would be entitled to sell chometz on Pesach.
The bill's sponsors note that this reading of the law offends the sensibilities of the vast majority of the Israeli public since "various surveys conducted indicate that approximately 80 percent of the Jewish population in Israel does not eat or purchase chometz during Pesach, which demonstrates that the majority of the public would prefer that chometz be kept out of sight and that its sale be prohibited," reads the explanatory material on the law.
