Controversial Kashrus Reform Reaches Knesset Committee, Opponents Cook Shrimps Outside Minister Kahane’s House

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — The controversial new kashrus reforms initiated by Religious Affairs minister Matan Kahane will be voted on in the Knesset’s special committee for National Infrastructure and Religious Affairs Initiatives. The committee is headed by Yisrael Beitenu MK Julia Malinowski, who made no secret of her feelings about kashrus by tweeting an inane TikTok sequence in which she points at a kashrus symbol with her own picture and gives it the thumbs up while she rejects other kashrus symbols:

רבני ישראל זועקים, יוליה מלינובסקי מבסוטה ומתן כהנא בתפקיד הגוי של שבת. וזה אומר הכל רבותיי. pic.twitter.com/fufUyARfeP

— אריה ארליך A. Erlich (@AryeErlich) October 26, 2021

The new reform is part of the budgetary law and the Knesset opposition has prepared thousands of objections to the law in an attempt to delay and to hinder the passing of the law, which will deal a huge blow both to the rabbinate and to other kashrus institutions in Israel.

The proposed law states that in a years time any kashrus institution which maintains the halachic criteria established by the rabbinate or by three official rabbis can grant a kashrus symbol on any item.

Opponents of the law state that it will destroy the entire kashrus system of the rabbinate which can only regulate what is kosher but will not be able to supervise the kashrus standards of the various bodies that will be granting kashrus on individual items.

Some of the opponents demonstrated outside Minister Kahane’s house and cooked shrimps, stating that Kahane is “opening a window to Reform” with the new kashrus reforms.

עשרות משגיחי כשרות הגיעו לביתו של שר הדתות מתן כהנא וטיגנו שרימפסים במחאה על רפורמת הכשרות. הרב דרור אריה, ממובילי המחאה: "כהנא בוחר להכשיל את הציבור בזדון, יש לנו חובה להפיל את החוק הרע הזה"@AkivaWeisz pic.twitter.com/QLzqNCF2LI

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) October 25, 2021