The state told the High Court of Justice on Wednesday that Tzohar Food Supervision’s newly issued license as an official kashrut-certifying body cannot currently be relied on because of flaws in the way it was granted, but also said the Chief Rabbinate remains obligated to examine Tzohar’s request without delay.
The position leaves Tzohar holding a license it says was lawfully granted and already relied upon, while other state officials argue that the process behind it was defective.
For Tzohar, the case is not only about one license. It is about whether the 2021 kashrut reform, which was intended to open Israel’s official kashrut-certification market to licensed private bodies, will be implemented before the current government succeeds in rolling it back.
Tzohar has argued that after years of delay, High Court proceedings, and a ruling requiring the Rabbinate to examine its request under the law in force, internal disputes inside the Rabbinate should not be used to undermine its ability to serve businesses and consumers.
“The people of Israel deserve kashrut that they can trust and that is accessible and professional,” Tzohar said this week. “They should not have to contend with judicial and bureaucratic stall tactics.”
State responds to Tzohar dispute ahead of Tuesday night deadline
The state position was submitted on behalf of the Chief Rabbinate and the Chief Rabbinate Council after Justice Gila Canfy-Steinitz ordered the state to respond to the dispute over the license by Tuesday night.
According to the filing, a legal review found a material flaw in the process that led Chief Rabbinate director-general Yehuda Cohen to grant Tzohar the license last week.
The state said that, at this stage, there was no practical possibility for Tzohar to act on the license. It said the licensing authority should begin the proper legal process to cancel or suspend it, or alternatively conduct the licensing process again.
At the same time, the state stressed that the dispute over the license did not erase the Rabbinate’s obligations under a previous High Court ruling. The court had ordered the Rabbinate and the Chief Rabbinate Council to decide whether Tzohar met the criteria to receive a license as a “body granting kashrut certification,” and, if so, to issue one.
“The possibility that the law will be amended in the future does not remove the obligation to fully comply with the judgment in a proper administrative process,” the state position said.
At the center of the immediate legal dispute is whether Cohen could issue the license before the matter was formally brought before the Chief Rabbinate Council.
Under the state’s reading of the law, a private kashrut body seeking to operate according to a Chief Rabbinate Council kashrut standard can receive a license only if the council does not oppose the request on kashrut grounds. But the state said that this requires the licensing authority to first refer the request to the council and give it the statutory 30-day period to respond.
That, the state said, did not happen.
The Chief Rabbinate Council said last week that the issue had not been brought before it, that it had not received Cohen’s reasoned decision or the underlying materials, and that it was therefore not approving the license at that stage.
Cohen rejected that position in a letter cited in the filing, arguing that the claims against the license were inconsistent with the law, the High Court’s ruling, and proper administration.
He said the council had known about Tzohar’s request for years through the High Court proceedings, had been a party to the case, and had not raised a substantive kashrut objection to the license. He argued that the law does not require the council’s active approval, only that it not oppose the license on kashrut grounds.
In Cohen’s view, because no such opposition was issued, the council should be deemed to have consented and the license remains valid.
The state rejected that interpretation, saying the council’s 30-day period does not begin through general awareness of the litigation, but only after a formal referral by the licensing authority.
Tzohar argues that license was validly granted
Tzohar maintains that Cohen, as the official appointed under the law to grant licenses to kashrut-certifying bodies, was empowered to issue the authorization.
Rabbi Emmanuel Guedj, who heads Tzohar’s kashrut division, told The Jerusalem Post this week that the organization’s standards follow Chief Rabbinate procedures and that each business under its supervision has an on-site supervisor, as well as an additional supervisor above him.
“The supervisor is not employed by the business,” Guedj said. “He is employed by us, so there is no conflict of interest.”
He said Tzohar also tracks supervisors’ attendance through GPS, allowing it to know when a supervisor was at a business and for how long.
The license carries practical consequences beyond the legal fight. Until now, Tzohar operated under certificates that could not use the word “kosher.” Tzohar chairman Rabbi David Stav told the Post that the license allowed the organization to issue official certificates bearing the word, including for businesses seeking to meet tender requirements.
Stav said Tzohar would continue operating under the license it received.
“The court is with us, the law is with us,” he said. “As long as the Knesset does not legislate a different law.”
The broader case comes as the government advances legislation that would undo key parts of the 2021 reform. The reform was designed to move Israel away from a system in which local rabbinates effectively held geographic monopolies over official kashrut certification, while allowing licensed private bodies to issue official certificates under state regulation.
The High Court previously rejected the state’s argument that Tzohar’s petition could be delayed because the government intended to amend or repeal the law. The court said a future legislative initiative could not serve as an answer to an order requiring the state to act under the law currently in force.
The state asked to submit an additional update within 10 days. Tzohar is expected to submit its reply by Thursday.