16 Tammuz 5770
June 28, 2010
The High Court of Justice ruled in favor of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel against a food importer, who was seeking to override the Rabbinate’s rulings regarding food imports, insisting that any foreign hechsher is acceptable under the nation’s kosher law. In short, he wished to usurp the Chief Rabbinate’s authority to make its own determination as to what hechsherim/items are acceptable for import as kosher/approved.
The court upheld the authority of the Chief Rabbinate as the state agency responsible for determining what is and is not accepted as kosher and approved, and the petitioner, in this case an importer, must agree to the Rabbinate’s terms if items being imported are to be approved by the Chief Rabbinate.
The importer was also instructed to undertake the legal costs, NIS 12,000.