The highly controversial kashrut reform spearheaded by Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana came into effect on Sunday morning.
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Following months of debates and opposition – predominantly from the ultra-Orthodox community and lawmakers – the first stage of the reform will see the creation of so-called "kashrut zones."
As such, religious councils will be able to provide kashrut certificates to any restaurant in Israel, regardless of their physical location.
By next year, the reform is expected to be fully implemented, with private corporations being able to provide kashrut supervision instead of the religious councils.
"The first phase of the kashrut reform, which will arrange Israel's kashrut system, has come into force," Kahana told Israel Hayom. It "will help foster a kind of kashrut that is more mehadrin, supervised and organized. From now on, restaurants and factories will be able to choose from which religious council they want to receive their kashrut certificate.
"Bringing competition into the system will put an end to the stagnation that has characterized the kashrut supervision industry in the last few decades," he said.
The reform, which is aimed at abolishing the Chief Rabbinate's monopoly over the industry, has been claimed by the ultra-Orthodox community to put the "very essence" of kashrut at risk.
A few months ago, the Chief Rabbinate declared a boycott on the reform and imposed a restriction on issuing kashrut certificates to other cities in an effort to prevent religious councils from providing oversight in other locations.
The Kosharot ultra-Orthodox non-governmental organization has even called on the public to report immediately if they come across businesses in one city being certified by the religious council of another.
Nevertheless, the Religious Services Ministry remains hopeful that the reform will bring about the changes aimed at improving the service for consumers and businesses.
"We believe that once two or three councils join, the others will join as well," one official from the ministry said.
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