Kashrut in Israel | Imamother

amother

Lavender

Mon, Nov 06 2017, 9:28 pm

Let me preface this question with- please try really hard to just answer the question and stave off temptation to discussed israeli kashrut politics, Israeli government, Iraeli rabbinate or tie it in to serving in the IDF(somehow recently that's where these things end up).
My ds is studying in Israel and the school had a conversation with the boys about Rabanut, mehadrin, Israeli kashrut symbols etc. So much more complicated than USA it is so confusing. We are looking into hotels for a visit, but I getting all kinds of mixed information. Like yes, they are Rabbanut, but talk with mashgiach. or if they are mehadrin can I assume the meat is Glatt kosher.
If I want to try to make a comparison with the USA would it be correct to say Rabanut is like purchasing something with a k or triangle K and mehadrin would be ou?

samantha87

Mon, Nov 06 2017, 10:38 pm

It really is complicated, and is even more difficult to explain if ignoring the politics, us/them, chareidi or not, etc.

Just know that Rabbanut comes in two flavors: regular and mehadrin. There are many badatzs which are almost all by definition mehadrin. Much of us difference is who runs and staffs the organization, but some also differ on which brand of meat they use, based on arcane chumras most of us don't understand. If you are trying to choose based on what ds yeshiva would approve of, just have ds ask explicitly.

DrMom

Tue, Nov 07 2017, 12:43 am

amother wrote:

- The plain old letter "K" has no meaning as a kashrut symbol, so if you are asking if regular kashrut in Israel has no meaning whatsoever, um, no that is not correct. I have no idea about triangle K, but basically...

- The hecshers in the US and Israel don't always map one-to-one. There is some overlap, but not every Israeli hecsher has an exact equivalent in the US.

- If your son's yeshiva told him what hecshers are acceptable, why not just ask him? Or ask your son's school?

- If you want to know what hecsher a hotel has, and all the in and outs of special
food accommodations, pick up the phone and call them, or check their websites. Don't rely on info here, which may be out of date. You don't want to get to your hotel and find out your son can't eat there.

imasoftov

Tue, Nov 07 2017, 3:54 am

amother wrote:

Let me preface this question with- please try really hard to just answer the question and stave off temptation to discussed israeli kashrut politics ...

... would it be correct to say Rabanut is like purchasing something with a k or triangle K and mehadrin would be ou?

Is that an example of leaving politics out?