Rabbi Rafi Feurestein
Rabbi Rafi FeuresteinKobi Richter/TPS

The Tzohar rabbis' organization is not bothered by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit's decision to forbid businesses and restaurants from presenting a kashrut certificate from a private body, and said that "people will vote with their feet."

Rabbi Rafi Feuerstein, head of the kashrut department at Tzohar, told Army Radio that "the rabbinate is fooling itself, and they think that will reduce the revolution."

Rabbi Feuerstein accused the rabbinate of being "afraid" of other players in the market, and estimated: "In the end, they too will have to allow competition."

The Attorney General's opinion indicates that the business will be permitted to write factual data about the kosher standards they follow and even to show that the business is supervised by an external body, but it is forbidden to present a certificate with the logo of a kashrut entity.

"In none of our documents is the word 'rabbinate' mentioned," said Rabbi Feuerstein. "According to what I understood, the symbol should be reduced, so we will reduce it. It's a matter of graphics. That's nonsense."

The 'Hotem' organization slammed the Tzohar rabbis and said: "It's a pity that the Attorney General borught Tzohar down from the tree. It would have been better to hear the voices of all the rabbis of Israel who came out against the project, which harmed the kashrut of the state and the kashrut consumers. We hope that the Tzohar Rabbinical Organization will continue to organize weddings and will cease their activity in their war against the Chief Rabbinate."