“It's all a matter of supply and demand. We examine what people need and
want, and sanction it. Many people want mehadrin kashrut, and they
trust mehadrin meat even if its production wasn't supervised in
Jerusalem. We're willing to supply this need. It's not really up to us,
we only sense what the public wants, and allow the public a chance to
chose. I don't see anything divisive about it. Someone might wish to buy
more expensive diapers. This is the same thing, we only supply the
variety.…Believe me, the regular kashrut is also a good kashrut. Anyone
can come in and eat."
Haredi-Controlled Jerusalem Rabbinate Issues New Type Of Kosher Certification
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
There’s a new type of kosher in Jerusalem.
Until now, only “regular” kosher and mehadrin (i.e., glatt) kosher certifiactions were issued by the the state-funded, haredi-controlled Jerusalem Rabbinate.
But now the Jerusalem Rabbinate has added a new class of kosher certification – mehuderet, which is meant to bridge the gap between regular kosher and mehadrin.
"Kashrut mehuderet is here to help businesses who conduct themselves as mehadrin, but still do not adhere to all mehadrin conditions," Rabbi Eliyahu Schlesinger, a kashrut “adjudicator” in Jerusalem told Ha’aretz. For example, Schlesinger said businesses will be able to import mehadrin meat from other cities in Israel, something businesses in Jerusalem carry mehadrin supervision cannot do.
Mehadrin meat slaughtered outside Jerusalem is frequently cheaper than Jerusalem-slaughtered mehadrin meat.
In Jerusalem, meat-based businesses that have a mehadrin kosher certificate are required to employ a rabbinate-approved kosher supervisor for most hours of the day. A restaurant with a regular kosher certificate must have a rabbinate-approved kosher supervisor on site for at least three hours each day. (In practice, these supervisors reportedly might only come in for minutes at a time.)
However, a business with the new mehuderet kosher certification is mandated to employ a rabbinate-approved kosher supervisor for at least four to five hours each day, Schlesinger said.
“It's all a matter of supply and demand. We examine what people need and want, and sanction it. Many people want mehadrin kashrut, and they trust mehadrin meat even if its production wasn't supervised in Jerusalem. We're willing to supply this need. It's not really up to us, we only sense what the public wants, and allow the public a chance to chose. I don't see anything divisive about it. Someone might wish to buy more expensive diapers. This is the same thing, we only supply the variety.…Believe me, the regular kashrut is also a good kashrut. Anyone can come in and eat,” Schlesinger reportedly said.