National-religious community gets new kashrut authority

The more discerning members of the crocheted kippa-wearing public will be now able to purchase fresh poultry slaughtered under the auspices of the Badatz Orot Eliyahu authority.

By JEREMY SHARON
DO NOT USE shechita ritual_311 (photo credit: Nati Shohat/Vosizneias.com)
DO NOT USE shechita ritual_311
(photo credit: Nati Shohat/Vosizneias.com)
A new mehadrin, super-kosher kashrut authority was launched this week from Safed, targeting the national-religious community.
The more discerning members of the crocheted kippa-wearing public will be now able to purchase fresh poultry slaughtered under the auspices of the Badatz Orot Eliyahu authority.
Badatz Orot Eliyahu is the brainchild of Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, chief rabbi of Safed, and Rabbi Ezra Sheinberg, dean of the Orot Ha’ari yeshiva in Safed.
The birds will be slaughtered in accordance with the rulings of former Sephardi chief rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, father of Shmuel, after whom the new authority is named. The nationalreligious Badatz stamp will apply to beef in the coming months.
Leaders of Badatz Orot Eliyahu said it was not seeking to undermine the kashrut certification of the Chief Rabbinate, but sought to attract people who want mehadrin chickens and would otherwise rely on haredi kashrut authorities.
“A number of other kashrut authorities have tried to raise difficulties for Badatz Orot but God has helped us overcome these problems,” said Badatz Orot Director Ronen Gimni on Israel Radio.
“The reality is that today parts of the national-religious community use mehadrin hechsherim [stringent kashrut certification] which belong to the haredi or hassidic communities,” Gimni said. “The question is does the national-religious community need to provide economic support for the Badatz of the Eda Haredit or of the Belz hassidim, or can it provide for itself?”
In November, the attorney-general ordered a criminal investigation into Eliyahu on suspicion of incitement to racism following comments he made about Arabs.