The Knesset passed in first reading on Tuesday evening a bill to cancel the 2021 kashrut reform, shortly before the Knesset is expected to dissolve, in a move that could prevent Israel’s official kashrut certification market from opening to broader competition.
The vote passed 49-34.
The bill targets a reform approved in 2021 but largely stuck in limbo since. The reform was designed to move Israel’s kashrut system away from one controlled almost entirely by the Chief Rabbinate and local rabbinates, and toward a regulated market in which private kashrut bodies could also issue official certificates.
That broader market never fully materialized.
According to the Competition Authority, because the reform has not been fully implemented, official kashrut certification for food businesses remains controlled by local rabbinates. A business seeking basic kashrut certification must generally receive it from the local rabbinate in the city or area where it operates. The authority noted that even businesses seeking stricter certification, such as Badatz, are still required to also receive certification from the local rabbinate.
In an opinion issued ahead of the vote, the Competition Authority warned that this structure turns each local rabbinate into a complete geographic monopoly over basic kashrut certification in its area. It said the structure prevents competition, creates inefficiency, and burdens businesses, particularly national chains that must deal separately with different local rabbinates and standards.
Kashrut reform aims to create competition, up efficiency
The 2021 reform, advanced by then-religious services minister Matan Kahana as part of the Arrangements Law, was meant to change that. Under the reform, private kashrut corporations would be able to issue official certificates, while the Chief Rabbinate would shift from being the main provider of kashrut services to serving as the regulator that licenses and supervises those bodies.
The reform also allowed private bodies to operate either according to standards set by the Chief Rabbinate Council or according to standards set by three recognized rabbis. Its purpose was to create competition, widen choice, and separate regulation from service provision.
A central element of the reform was its attempt to address the long-standing conflict of interest between kashrut supervisors and the businesses they supervise. Under the current system, kashrut supervisors are often paid directly by the business receiving certification. The High Court of Justice has previously criticized that arrangement, and successive governments and the Rabbinate have struggled to resolve it.
The reform sought to address the problem by having licensed kashrut corporations employ the supervisors, rather than the supervised businesses. It was also meant to apply to imported products, allowing private kashrut bodies to certify imports and potentially reduce kashrut costs in import channels.
One part of the reform did take effect: local religious councils were allowed to issue kashrut certification outside their own municipal areas. That was meant to create immediate competition between local rabbinates and give businesses alternatives to their own local rabbinate, particularly where local kashrut monopolies were viewed as especially problematic.
But shortly after Religious Services Minister Michael Malchieli of Shas entered office in December 2022, he moved to delay the reform’s broader implementation. In practice, that left the reform largely dormant: local rabbinates were legally able to certify businesses outside their own areas, but the option was not widely used, and the core mechanism of licensing private national kashrut bodies did not materialize.
Coalition seeking to cancel kashrut reform
Tani Frank, director of the Judaism and State Policy Center at the Shalom Hartman Institute, told The Jerusalem Post that the coalition had sought to cancel the reform from the beginning of its term, noting that repeal was included in the coalition agreements and that Malchieli moved almost immediately to delay implementation.
“The story of canceling the kashrut reform was on the table for this coalition from day one,” Frank said, arguing that the government delayed implementation rather than formally repealing the law until now.
The Competition Authority said the reform carried significant competitive benefits that have not yet been realized because of delays and legal orders. It warned that canceling the reform would prevent those benefits from taking effect.
For consumers, the authority said competition could have led to more businesses seeking kashrut certification, lower food prices where kashrut costs are high, and improved service and supervision. For businesses, it said competition could have reduced certification costs and improved service, including supervisor availability and the range of raw materials they may use.
The authority also emphasized the importance of separating the Rabbinate’s regulatory role from the provision of kashrut services, warning that a regulator that also provides services has both the ability and incentive to make it harder for competitors to operate.
Frank said the current bill would not merely preserve the existing system, but would choose a different solution to the supervisor-supervised business problem. Instead of having private licensed bodies employ kashrut supervisors, as envisioned by the reform, the bill would move toward having supervisors employed through religious councils or local authorities in places without religious councils.
Canceling kashrut reform may raise prises, worsen cost of living
That, Frank said, could create significant budgetary consequences.
Frank warned that canceling the reform would raise kashrut costs, worsen the cost of living, and shift the funding of thousands of kashrut supervisors onto the public, while also harming the quality of supervision. He said the move would eliminate competition, grant the Chief Rabbinate additional powers, and further strengthen its monopoly.
Since the reform was frozen, implementation has been bogged down in legal and political trench warfare. In March 2023, Tzohar applied for a license as a national certifying body; the application was ignored, prompting another petition.
The state updated the court that the new system had not been completed and that the Chief Rabbinate Council had not set the kashrut standards needed to operate it, while also pointing to the government’s intention to amend the law again.
Tzohar argued that this became the central pattern of the case: the law remained on the books, but the state kept asking for time on the basis of a future repeal that never came.
That argument ultimately succeeded in the High Court of Justice, which in November 2025 accepted Tzohar’s petition and issued an absolute order directing the Rabbinate to examine whether Tzohar qualified for a license under the existing law and, if so, to issue one. The ruling directly rejected the state’s attempt to freeze implementation on the basis that the law would soon be changed.
Tzohar argues that after the November ruling, it submitted an updated licensing request to the director-general of the Chief Rabbinate, in his capacity as the licensing authority, and reminded him that the law requires a decision within 45 days. It says no response came.
Tzohar petitioned the court again in March - for the fourth time - arguing that despite the ruling, the state had still not acted. The case is currently waiting for responses from the Rabbinate, which are due later this month.
On Tuesday, Tzohar also appealed urgently to Knesset legal adviser Sagit Afek, asking her to stop what it called a “legislative blitz” to cancel the reform.
In the letter, Tzohar argued that the government and the Chief Rabbinate had ignored the kashrut law for more than three years and were now trying to use fast-track legislation to retroactively validate that conduct. Tzohar said the government was continuing to violate the High Court ruling while the current petition remains pending.
Tzohar said the bill’s consequences were too significant to be handled through rushed legislation, arguing that canceling the reform would have far-reaching effects on the economy, the cost of living, the state budget, freedom of occupation, equality, and free competition.
The timing of the first-reading vote carries procedural significance. A bill that has passed first reading may be eligible for continuity in the next Knesset, allowing the next parliament to resume the legislative process from that stage rather than beginning again from scratch. Applying continuity is not automatic and requires action by the next Knesset, but passing the bill now creates the procedural basis for doing so.
Frank said this is a common practice when a Knesset is nearing dissolution, with lawmakers rushing to pass bills in first reading in order to preserve them for the next parliament. He compared the move to the handling of the haredi draft bill, which was carried over from a previous Knesset after passing first reading.
For that reason, Tuesday’s vote may matter even if the current Knesset dissolves before the bill completes its second and third readings. It gives a future Knesset a path to revive the repeal effort more quickly, while also signaling to the High Court that the political echelon is actively moving to cancel the reform whose implementation the court has ordered.