Some Restaurants In Israel Declare A Kosher Rebellion

[rug]

Israelis eat at a kosher McDonald's restaurant in Tel Aviv. (David Silverman/Getty Images)

by Anthony Kuhn
November 30, 2012 3:00 PM

The Carousela cafe in West Jerusalem is one of a handful of restaurants and cafes in Israel staging a bit of a rebellion by defying Jewish religious authorities who claim they are the only ones who can certify restaurants as kosher, or in compliance with Jewish dietary laws.

Activists, rabbis and customers recently gathered in support of Carousela after the authorities threatened to fine the cafe if it claimed to be kosher without a certificate from the rabbinate. And now Carousela and four other restaurants are taking the authorities to court over the issue, according to The Times of Israel.

Cafe manager Jonathan Vadei says the rabbinate's kosher inspectors are not doing their job, and he and some colleagues have decided to form their own association to do it.

Now, it takes some chutzpah to call the authorities unkosher, but some rabbis have rallied to Vadei's support for doing so. Conservative movement Rabbi Andrew Sacks says the kosher inspection system has become corrupt.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/11/30/165125939/some-restaurants-in-israel-declare-a-kosher-rebellion

4:16 audio at link.