Jerusalem – The Chief Rabbinate on Tuesday removed its objection to the establishment of a national authority operating kosher supervisors, instead of the supervisors currently employed by the local rabbinates.
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A bill on the matter is slated to be brought before the Ministerial Committee at the beginning of the winter session, and is meant to prevent financial irregularities, nepotism and inadequate supervision – as revealed by a State Comptroller Report.
According to the bill, the new authority will be subordinate to the Ministry of Religious Services headed by Minister Yacov Margi, and will operate three manpower agencies selected through a tender.
If the bill eventually passes, its main advantage will be the ability to hire kosher supervisors that are not obligated to the businesses or factories they supervise, which will help regulate the koshering system in Israel.
However, the initiative also has a downside – factories, companies and businesses applying for kosher certificates will be probably asked to pay a higher fee for external supervision services operated by private manpower agencies.
The initiators of the law claimed that the additional cost will be set off by the illegal payments given to kosher supervisors in order to overlook irregularities and skip visits.
Anything that adds to the confidence of the kehilla in the quality of hashgacha is a good outcome and should be supported. The only downside would be a few additional guys in black hats on the unemployment lines since they will no longer be able to charge for work not done or being hired soley because their uncle was had the contract for hasgacha. They should put a former law enforcement officer or investigator in charge of the whole operation and perform frequent inspections to assure the same problems don’t arise under government operations.
to prevent nothing.
this is all politics for the honor-hungry
Government Government Government Government Government Government Government Government Government Government Government
Sounds like I am watching a debate for US Senator for Connecticut and the Socialist Liberal Democrat is answering a question on how jobs are created!!!
It’s about time that Mashgichim become employees of the Ministry of Religion and get the benefits of Government employees such as vacations, uniforms pay, pensions etc. They are in limbo land now, they get paid by the owner of the business yet in fact work for the Rabbinate, a very sticky situation when it comes time for a raise, or benefits