The Jerusalem Religious Council withdrew its High Court
petition against the Chief Rabbinate and against HaRav Adler
and HaRav Efrati, the two rabbonim now authorized to issue
kashrus certificates to Jerusalem's business
establishments.
The petition stirred shock and outrage in light of the
ongoing conduct at the Religious Council, which has led to a
severe decline in the city's kashrus standards. Gedolei
Torah reacted harshly to the unprecedented step by the
Religious Council and the resulting chilul Sheim
Shomayim.
Following orders from the Prime Minister's Office, Attorney
Asher Axelrod sent an urgent request asking the High Court to
cancel that day's hearing and to withdraw the petition.
Attorney Axelrod said the retraction followed a letter Chief
Rabbi Yonah Metzger sent to the board of the Religious
Council. In the letter Rabbi Metzger writes that he was very
upset over the petition against the Rabbinical Council's
decision and that there is no need to waste words describing
the pain caused by the very act of seeking legal proceedings
outside the framework of din Torah. The proper course
of action should have been to turn to an entity qualified to
deliberate issues of halochoh and kashrus, Rabbi Metzger
said.
Rabbonim and public figures say the Religious Council's
conduct has severely marred kashrus at the Jerusalem
Rabbinate and they are demanding the Religious Council cease
its persecution of HaRav Adler and HaRav Efrati, who operate
in accordance with daas gedolei Yisroel.
