In the lawsuit filed on Wednesday at the Petah Tikva Magistrate's Court, it was claimed that although Osher Ad markets itself to the ultra-Orthodox community and professes its kashrut to be Mehadrin, it sold a chametz product at its Petah Tikva location during Passover, leading the siblings to eat chametz on the holiday.

The statement of claim asserts "The defendant is a supermarket chain that directs its advertising and services to the ultra-Orthodox sector. The chain prides itself on the Mehadrin kashrut of its products and frequently promotes itself as being tailored to the ultra-Orthodox public."

According to the suit, on April 15, 2025, during the Passover holiday, the brother went to the Petah Tikva branch. "Plaintiff 1 relied on the defendant, as it states that it operates with rabbinic approval and under the supervision of Mehadrin kashrut authorities, and purchased, among other items, a 'gnocchi' product, based on the reasonable and required assumption that it was a kosher for Passover product. No sign on the product shelf or in any other location indicated that the product was chametz."

The siblings prepared and consumed the gnocchi at home. Subsequently, the brother examined the packaging and noticed that wheat flour was listed among the ingredients. "Upon learning of this, the plaintiffs were overcome with astonishment and profound shock. The mere realization that they had consumed chametz during the Passover holiday – an event representing a severe violation of their religious conscience and way of life – caused them intense feelings of distress, insult, and deep sorrow."

The lawsuit claims consumer deception and further, according to the Chametz Law (Prohibition of Chametz), any business owner is prohibited from publicly displaying chametz products during Passover. It was also claimed there was negligence, a violation of autonomy, a breach of disclosure duty, and mental anguish involved. Osher Ad did not provide a response.

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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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The Scarborough Campus Student Union of the University of Toronto passed a motion last week pledging to exclusively order from kosher caterers who "do not normalize Israeli apartheid."

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Outlined in an 86-page meeting agenda, the litmus test to filter out supposed pro-Israel caterers was unclear.

Still, Jewish students are reportedly worried about not being able to keep kosher.

"Jewish students at SCSU will now be forced to prove that kosher caterers do not support their Jewish homeland, which is basically impossible," said Gabriela Rosenblum, a member of the campus activism organization Hasbara Fellowships Canada.

Hillel UofT, a Jewish campus at the university, said that it was "deeply disappointed" by the union's position and called on the body's executives to "take immediate steps to reverse this shameful resolution."

Last year, the Ivy-league school Columbia University became the 44th school to approve a BDS resolution.

In comparison, the Canadian Union of Public Employees voted overwhelmingly against a BDS resolution on Thursday.

"Whether the SCSU likes it or not, Israel is an essential part of Jewish identity," said Daniel Koren, executive director of Hasbara Canada. "They do not have the right to tell Jewish students how to practice Judaism on campus."

UofT President Meric Gertler said in a statement that the school "is opposed to all forms of discrimination, and committed to the protection of freedom of speech and academic freedom.  The University was alarmed to learn about two motions passed at the Scarborough Campus Students' Union Annual General Meeting on November 24.  Both motions are inconsistent with the University of Toronto's core values of freedom of speech and inclusion.

"One motion reaffirmed SCSU's commitment to the "Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions" (BDS) movement; another concerns the rights of Jewish students at UTSC …

"One of the requirements in the BDS motion is that SCSU 'refrain from engaging with organizations, services, or participating in events that further normalize Israeli apartheid.'  The motion allows an exception for suppliers of kosher food if 'no alternatives are available.' A requirement that providers of food as a religious accommodation be required to apply for an exemption, or even be asked about their views about issues elsewhere in the world is unacceptable.

"So too is the striking of the language about academic freedom from the second motion.  Academic freedom is an individual right, and the Policy on Open, Accessible and Democratic Autonomous Student Societies requires that these organizations must permit their members to determine which positions to take. Nor should they restrict the speakers that they can invite, or organizations with which they can cooperate based on their connections to a particular country.

"The motions are specifically focused on Israel in a way that is troubling to many members of the community. Such motions would be no more acceptable if focused on another country, or if a student organization in which members are enrolled by their registration were to take multiple stands on a wide variety of issues …

"The University of Toronto is dedicated to fostering an academic community in which the learning and scholarship of every member may flourish, with vigilant protection for individual human rights, and a resolute commitment to the principles of equal opportunity, equity and justice.

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"Within the unique university context, the most crucial of all human rights are the rights of freedom of speech, academic freedom, and freedom of research. And we affirm that these rights are meaningless unless they entail the right to raise deeply disturbing questions and provocative challenges to the cherished beliefs of society at large and of the university itself.

"These requirements apply directly to the SCSU motions. It is not acceptable to impose political tests on the recognition of Jewish student groups on any of the University of Toronto campuses. It is unacceptable to impose political tests on suppliers of kosher or any other type of food.

"The university will be following up with the SCSU to address our concerns," Gertler said in the statement.

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Just under half of all food businesses in the Tel Aviv District are kosher compared to 66% of all businesses across the country. Among those businesses with kosher certificates, 79% are certified mehadrin, the most stringent level of kosher supervision, according to a new study carried out by Ariel Finklestein and Gabriel Abensour of the Israel Democracy Institute.

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The study comes as the government has announced plans to implement comprehensive reform in the kashrut market that will make the Chief Rabbinate a regulator of independent organizations that provide kashrut supervisory services, rather than the body controlling the process as a whole. The measure aims to improve the level of services provided as well as create competition in the field, often criticized by small businesses as being corrupt.

At 90%, the study found that food businesses in the Jerusalem District and Judea and Samaria were the most likely to have kashrut certification. In the center of the country, the study found 81% of food businesses were certified kosher.

In the Tel Aviv district, 49% of businesses were certified kosher. Eighty-one percent of food businesses in the north of the country had kosher certificates compared to 72% in the south.

"This data corresponds to the traditional-religious profile of the Jerusalem District and Judea and Samaria, in contrast to the more secular profile of the Tel Aviv District. Also, in the Northern and Southern Districts, where the traditional-religious population resides at a relatively higher rate, a relatively higher rate of kosher food businesses can be seen."

In 2019, a majority of food businesses, 79%, had been certified kosher by the Chief Rabbinate, compared to 21% who were certified mehadrin (glatt) kosher by the Chief Rabbinate. Just 9% of restaurants that offer meat were certified mehadrin kosher.

According to Finkelstein, the study clearly indicates high demand for kashrut certification, and as a result, a need for a shift in the way in which kashrut supervision is carried out. "The number of kosher businesses indicates the great potential for necessary reform in the field, which the state comptroller noted, and how significant this can be for consumers and business owners in the field."

Although the study relied on data from 2019, it nevertheless reflects a growing trend in recent years. In addition to the many business certified kosher by the Chief Rabbinate, some businesses have opted to receive kosher certification from Tzohar, an Orthodox organization that aims to bridge the gaps between religious and secular Jews in Israel.

Noting the organization's  certification of two branches of a Tel Aviv falafel chain this week, Tzohar's Kashrut Director Yehuda Ziderman said, "There is great satisfaction in that this is another business that operated without formal kashrut [certification] and chose to become kosher under Tzohar's supervision, thereby helping us to increase kashrut in Israel."

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In a surprising move, a leading Hassidic rabbi spoke out in favor of Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana's kashrut reform Saturday, despite opposition by most in the ultra-Orthodox world to the change. The reform seeks to abolish the kashrut monopoly that has been held by the Chief Rabbinate since the establishment of the state.

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"For 70 years, the Haredim have opposed the Chief Rabbinate, and now all of a sudden they support it?" Rabbi Menachem Eliezer Zev Rosenbaum, head of the Kretshnif Hassidic dynasty, was quoted to have told congregants on Saturday.

"For 70 years we have been told that the Rabbinate is unfit and seeks to compromise the Jewish character of the state, and lo and behold, now they [the ultra-Orthodox] are fighting on its behalf."

Rosenbaum also hinted that opposition to the reform by Haredi Knesset members, in particular, stemmed from hypocrisy on their part.

"Who knows, perhaps due to this reform, Jews that have until now not kept kosher will start eating kosher food specifically because of this 'reform of rabbis,'" he said.

In contrast, Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef lambasted the reform, claiming that some elements were looking to get rid of kashrut altogether.

"They want to take kashrut and destroy it all," he told listeners at his weekly lesson on Saturday evening.
He claimed that the reform requiring the mashgiach (kashrut supervisor) to only arrive at the site he supervises once a week was insufficient.

"At the time when the mashgiach is not present, they will bring in non-kosher meat and the likes," he said.

Yosef also pointed out that while the ultra-Orthodox will continue to rely on kashrut certifications granted by the higher rabbinical court – which is not part of the Chief Rabbinate – the reform will predominantly affect those Israelis who keep kosher but accept certificates of all kinds.

"We will fight this matter," he said and lambasted Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau for failing to battle the reform as well due to a desire to continue to serve on the Supreme Rabbinical Court.

Yosef said that the only way he would be willing to hold talks with Kahana was if the reform was taken off the Arrangements Law, which is a bill presented to the Knesset each year alongside the State Budget Law that incorporates various economic and financial legislation amendments needed for the government to fulfill its economic policy.

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In the wake of a recent proposal to reform the kashrut certification system, which has sparked uproar in the Chief Rabbinate and Haredi public, Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana is now advancing a conversion reform that will likely please non-Orthodox elements and anger Haredi members of Knesset and rabbis.

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Israel Hayom has learned that Kahana has held a series of consultations in recent days in preparation for drafting what will be a national conversion bill, including meetings with chief rabbis. Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau has reportedly asked to meet with Kahana to present his views and emphasize his priorities on the matter.

As for Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, who was outraged over the proposed kashrut reforms and published a scathing letter last week together with other members of the Chief Rabbinate Council, the chances of him agreeing to meet with Kahana to discuss any conversion reform proposal are slim.

In the coming weeks, meanwhile, Kahana is also expected to meet with rabbis from the national religious sector, as well as with former Justice Minister Moshe Nissim. In 2018, Nissim proposed a conversion reform outline that recommended establishing a new conversion authority outside the jurisdiction of the Chief Rabbinate, which would recognize liberal, or non-Orthodox, conversions performed abroad. The outline presented by Nissim, however, which did receive the go-ahead by then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was buried due to Haredi pressure.

Kahana is also expected to meet with current conversion officials before drafting and presenting his outline, in the hope of garnering the broadest possible support. Officials close to Kahana say he is guided by the principle of preserving conversion according to Halacha (Jewish Law), out of deep and true care for the future of the Jewish people.

Not many details are known yet about Kahana's intended conversion reform, although it's reasonable to assume it will also be met with severe backlash from Haredi MKs.

Conversion reforms have been attempted in the past, including allowing chief municipal rabbis to establish their own localized conversion authorities. However, they have all been shelved due to Haredi pressure. Now, it appears, Kahana is looking to reopen this powder keg and settle the matter once and for all.

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Two organizations are challenging the Military Rabbinate's power in determining religious matters, particularly food, in the Israel Defense Forces.

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The Secular Forum NGO and the Hiddush organization turned to IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi with the request to allow soldiers to eat non-kosher food outside army base dining halls after receiving many complaints on the matter.

Hiddush "works to implement the basic values guaranteed in Israel's Declaration of Independence," and the Secular Forum works to battle "religious radicalization" in the government.

"There is no dispute about the importance of keeping kosher and the IDF's obligation to provide kosher food to soldiers who are interested in it, in accordance with their religious beliefs," the two organizations explained. "However, such strict adherence is a violation of the rights of soldiers who do not eat kosher food alone."

Currently, soldiers can bring their own food onto army bases and even store them in refrigerators and kitchenettes in airtight containers. However, they are strictly forbidden from eating or heating it, not even by using their personal electrical appliances.

The forums further alleged that the prohibition to eat non-kosher food on the base was issued without authority and is illegal, as is the ban to heat food using personal appliances, including on Shabbat.

They said that the Military Rabbinate's authority is limited to food served to soldiers in the dining hall, and they could not impose kashrut rules on soldiers eating their own food in kitchenettes, living rooms or offices.

"IDF soldiers and officers also have the right to enjoy the freedom of religion and thought ensured in the Declaration of Independence," President of Hiddush Rabbi Uri Regev said.

"The rights of secular soldiers, including non-Jews, must be respected as much as the rights of those who observe kashrut and Shabbat. If the military refuses to recognize this, we will not hesitate to take this matter to court to ban religious coercion and to limit their power."

Chairman of Secular Forum Ram Fruman concurred.

"There is no justification for a secular soldier not to be able to eat non-kosher food outside IDF dining rooms, or to cook it himself, kosher or not, including on Shabbat," he said, adding that the Rabbinate's interference with the matter, includings soldiers cooking using personal appliances was "absurd."

Torat Lechima, an NGO that works towards "maintaining the IDF's Jewish identity" criticized the move.

"Since its inception, the IDF has viewed kashrut as the cornerstone of the Jewish identity of the only Jewish military in the world," it said.

"The military command was clear, in that it forbade bringing in any non-kosher food into military institutions, and religious, secular and traditional [Israelis] lived in this idyll for over 70 years.

"In recent years, progressive organizations have been insatiable at gnawing away at anything that makes the IDF Jewish, in terms of Shabbat, kashrut, burial and the important status of the Military Rabbinate… We call on Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi to reject these attempts to undermine the IDF and to weaken the military's identity as victorious Jewish army."

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Australia's Kashrut Authority announced Wednesday it was removing Ben & Jerry's products from its list of approved items in response to the ice cream company's decision not to sell goods in Judea and Samaria after 2022.

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"The brand will be removed from our list this weekend, in support of the proud residents of Judea and Samaria," the company said in a statement, calling its decision "a small stance on a global scale," but one it had to make.

Ben & Jerry's products that carry the "KOF-K" kosher mark, granted by a US-based international certification provider, were not affected by the decision.

Pressure is also mounting on the Orthodox Union, the largest kashrut organization in the world, to apply pressure on the ice cream conglomerate to reverse its decision.

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Jews who lived during the First Temple period used to eat non-kosher food, a study published Monday by Tel Aviv University revealed.

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The study was co-authored by two researchers. Dr. Yonatan Adler is affiliated with Ariel University. His colleague Professor Omri Lernau, is from the University of Haifa in Israel. The journal, Tel Aviv, is a publication of Tel Aviv University.

The findings shed light on the origins of the laws of kashrut in the Torah. According to these laws, fish that lacks fins and scales, is prohibited.

As part of their research, archeologists analyzed remains from 30 sites throughout the southern Levant that date back more than 2,000 years.

"The prohibition of fish with no fins and scales deviated from traditional Jewish dietary habits," co-author of the study, Adler, said.

Types of fish such as "catfish and sharks appear to have been banned despite the fact that these species are often found in Jewish menus. There is no reason to assume that the basis of the prohibition in the Torah lies in some ancient taboo," he said.

The prohibition of eating certain types of fish appears in the Torah twice, in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. In both cases, the ban to eat non-kosher fish is preceded by the prohibition of eating pork.

Having presented their preliminary conclusions, the archeologists plan to research when Judeans began to avoid eating finless and scaleless fish and what the level of adherence to this prohibition is in modern times.

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Crave Gourmet Street Food, a kosher restaurant in Jerusalem's Machane Yehuda market, told its customers last month that it would be changing the name of its famous lamb bacon to "facon" in accordance with a recent decision by the Chief Rabbinate, or Rabbanut, Israel's governing body on religious aspects of life such as the kashrut of food, marriage and conversion.

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"When we founded Crave four years ago, our mission was crystal-clear: to create a high-end kosher kitchen offering Israelis exposure to flavors generally found in non-kosher kitchens," the Mehadrin (strictly kosher) restaurant wrote on their social media.

On its menu are items like lamb bacon and vegan cheese with other Jerusalem restaurants having followed suit by using vegan cheeses on their kosher burgers, as well as serving beef or lamb bacon.

Though Crave has been under the Rabbanut's supervision since its opening with lamb bacon on its menu, co-owner Yoni Van Leeuwen told JNS that the change was requested suddenly, as the Rabbanut became aware that "there is such a thing called bacon and that usually people think of bacon as pork."

"We call our bacon 'bacon' simply because that's what it is. The term bacon refers to a process, not a specific piece or cut of meat," the restaurant retorted. "Crave bacon is the least 'facon' there is. Our bacon is the most authentic, tastiest and most lovingly prepared bacon there is. And yes, it's super kosher."

After meeting with the Rabbanut – equipped with research on the topic and a Webster dictionary definition, and aiming to convince them that the word "bacon" was not problematic as "you can make bacon with mushroom, soy, lamb, turkey, duck, goose and more" – Van Leeuwen said that he was told that "there's a halachah that you are supposed to keep distance from something even similar to things that are not kosher."

"It was insulting … the Rabbanut is overstepping its boundaries and legal authority," said Van Leeuwen, though acknowledging that "we have no desire to go fight them, as we are reliant on their teuda (kosher certification) and a large percent of our customers are religious and some percent might not eat here if we used an alternative kashrut certification."

Indeed, Rabbi Shmuel Zemelman, kashrut supervisor and head of the Rabbanut's Jerusalem Kashrut department, explained to JNS that the Rabbanut only learned about the word "bacon" when they received "sharp complaints from foreigners, who asked us how we could give a hechsher to a place that uses the word bacon. … They were in utter shock, because bacon is pork, and called it disgusting."

The Rabbanut perceives it as a serious and existential matter when a Jew doesn't want to eat at a kosher restaurant, maintained Zemelman. So "we decided to explore the topic and the rabbis from the religious sector said that you can't use the word bacon – the Torah and the sages said that we can't use unclean language, and bacon is an unclean word."

Though acknowledging the fact that bacon can refer to the process, some "99.9 percent of people associate bacon with pork, and even when you translate it to other languages, the translation is problematic and halachically misleading," he said.

"We also sent a notification that we don't allow there to be any meat with cheese on the menu unless it's clearly stated that it's pareve vegetable cheese or tofu cheese," continued Zemelman, though he did not answer why the same specifications for not using the word bacon wouldn't also be applied to cheese.

Zemelman continued to argue that the play on words is intended to be funny and light, and that they prefer to make the content of products as clear as possible and not play into the semantics.

However, the chefs respond that semantics is a big deal in words used for food, and that to change the word is inaccurate and offensive to their work.

"Bacon is a process of curing and smoking meats; there is no other accurate term to describe the process," said Van Leeuwen.

Less than a mile away from Crave, Sam Notovitz, general manager and head chef of another Jerusalem restaurant, Harvey's Burger Shack, similarly told JNS that in the United States, where he and many of his customers are from, "facon" is a "vegan version of bacon," rather than a non-pork meat alternative, which Zemelman acknowledged.

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"From my perspective as a chef, bacon is a process and style of curing meat – not necessarily pork – to dry cure and process the meat to increase its longevity and flavor," explained Notovitz, relating that the change was an unfortunate surprise to him as well. While he was going through the process of renewing his Rabbanut kosher certification, he was told that his asado beef bacon would need to be renamed.

"Both the owner and I were ticked off at first, because we just had our new menus printed, which cost both money and time with absolutely no notice – and they weren't able to give a clear understanding why we couldn't call it beef bacon – but we are under the duress of these guys, so we chose to rename our bacon to B(F)acon."

Though Notovitz did not fully understand the Rabbanut's decision to rename meat that clearly stated that it was beef, he and the owners chose to comply with the orders, which he said would otherwise be a "losing battle."

Both Notovitz and the owners of Crave noted that they have good relationships with their Rabbanut mashgichim (kosher-food supervisors) and are satisfied with the service that they provide.

"We don't have a problem with the Rabbanut, and in the restaurant industry, you need to pick and choose your battles; roll with the punches," said the head chef. "In this day and age after coronavirus has hit hard … we are trying to stay in business, produce quality food and make our customers happy, and if that means we need to put a letter in front of bacon, that's what we need to do."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org

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