Group Sues Chief Rabbinate Over Denying Kosher Supervisor Positions to Women
Emunah sued Israel’s Chief Rabbinate to compel the body to recognize the kosher supervision certificate offered for the first time by the women’s group.
The lawsuit filed last week calls on the Chief Rabbinate to allow the 16 female graduates of the group’s course in kosher supervision to work in their chosen profession. It also asks the court to compel the rabbinate to explain its policy.
One of the course graduates, Avivit Rabi, is a co-petitioner in the suit. Rabi is a mother of seven from the haredi Orthodox city of Beitar Illit.
The Emunah course reportedly is in accordance with the curriculum recognized by the Chief Rabbinate.
Part of the policy that prevents women from applying for jobs as kosher supervisors is the requirement that they have a certificate that they studied in a yeshiva for a minimum of four years after age 18.
Several female kosher inspectors have been working for years; they were hired before the rabbinate required special training courses starting in 2010. The female inspectors reportedly are highly respected.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
News Who is Alan Garber, the Jewish Harvard president who stood up to Trump over antisemitism?
- 3
News Student protesters being deported are not ‘martyrs and heroes,’ says former antisemitism envoy
- 4
Opinion What Jewish university presidents say: Trump is exploiting campus antisemitism, not fighting it
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Sharon Osbourne calls for music group to lose US visas after anti-Israel Coachella performance
-
Fast Forward 10 freed Israeli hostages to participate in March of the Living
-
Culture In ‘Andor’ season 2, a Wannsee Conference reference, and a new sort of space Jew
-
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.