Rabbis in the haredi city of Beitar Illit on Wednesday morning demanded that the owners of stores and locations selling pre-prepared food throughout the city ensure that the food they sell has a kosher certificate from a recognized body, Kikar Hashabbat reported.
The instruction was intended, among others, for those selling cholent, a traditional meat-and-bean stew eaten Saturday morning. The cholent is usually sold on Thursdays and Fridays.
A letter signed by the city's rabbis and the judges of its rabbinical court and published in local newspapers, as well as on Kikar Hashabbat, read, "Lately there has been an increase in our city of stores and other locations selling pre-prepared and cooked food, and especially on Thursday nights and Fridays, without any supervision and inspection of the kosher status. Unfortunately the rabbinical court has already seen cases of severe obstacles which were caused by this."
"Therefore, we hereby announce that according to the law, all sales of pre-prepared food that is not packaged in bags carrying kosher certification requires authorized kosher certification, and cannot be assumed kosher. Therefore, each food business owner must ensure that it receives kosher certification from an authorized body, even if the sellers and preparers are G-d-fearing.
"The public must not buy other than in a place which has a strict kosher certificate," the letter added.
Beitar Illit has over ten locations where pre-prepared cholent can be purchased, along with food for Shabbat (Sabbath) and lifecycle events.