אהוב את המלאכה
ושנא את הרבנות
ואל תתוודע לרשות
That’s Avos DeRebbi Natan. Love work, hate the Rabanut, and don’t say anything to the authorities.
Or in libertarian language: Love working in the private sector. Hate the Rabanut. And don’t let the government know how much stuff you or anyone else has, because the bastards will take it all.
Recently, there was a big breakthrough for freedom in Israel. Who would have thought? It was somehow ruled legal to issue private kosher certification, not sanctioned by the state. Amazing! Now people can actually choose what kosher certificate they want, which they trust, which they don’t, which they want to picket, which they want to praise, which they love and which they hate. Which certification they consider to be, of their own free will, ultra mega crazy whopping kosher up all the halachic chumra wazoos, and which is basically the same as a bacon cheeseburger on Pesach that also happens to be Yom Kippur.
Choose. What a concept.
Up until now, choosing was illegal. And the Rabanut, the official state sponsored body of piggish control freak “Rabbis”, is really pissed off. Because they will no longer have a monopoly on the Kashrut industry, so they can’t charge as much, because when supply goes up baby, price comes down. The Rabbis don’t like this.
You may ask, how then is there a Badatz kashrut industry, if private certification is illegal? Because, the best thing about Haredim, the so called “ultra orthodox” is that they are not afraid of the State. And that is the best thing about them. Unlike the religious Zionists who are nearly 100% state worshipers, the Haredim will not be pushed around. Yes, they will demand money from the state and leverage their power to get more of it. But so does every single other sector in Israel. I don’t love them for that. But at least they won’t be pushed around.
So when the Rabanut of the State of Israel originally said they control all of the kosher certification industry in Israel, the Haredim basically gave them the finger and continued with their own certification, which was then incorporated into the State kosher certification system because the State knows it cannot fight the Haredim on this. If you can’t destroy them, assimilate them into the system. Give them a piece of the State pie and they’ll shut up.
It’s the same with marriage. When the Rabanut originally said they control all of marriage in the State, the Haredim basically gave them the finger again, said “screw you State, we’ll marry ourselves” and the State couldn’t fight them, so the Haredim have their own Edah Haredit marriage license program where you don’t have to go through any Rabanut bullshit.
I know this because I myself got my state marriage license (which I now regret, it was before I was a libertarian) through Edah Haredit. All I did was pay them 400 shekels and give them a note from Rabbi George Finkelstein that I was Jewish and so was my wife to be. And I said, “What do I have to do now?” And the guy with the big beard said, “Everything kehilchasa.” Everything according to Jewish law.
I said OK. Then we got married. Then I went back there to pick up my license. And that was it. No getting a Rabanut approved Rabbi. No Rabanut agent spying on my wife as she goes to the Mikva before the Chupah and signing off on it. No handing in any kosher certificate to the state spies. No prima nocta to the local “Chief Rabbi”. Nothing. Just 400 shekels and a letter.
Rabbi Seth Farber, no relation, has this whole organization called Itim that is designed to guide people through the disgustingness that is the Rabanut gauntlet to get married. I say to hell with State marraige altogether and do whatever you want, but nobody, absolutely nobody, should ever voluntarily go through that crap when you can just go through Edah Haredit and do nothing.
So anyway…back to Kashrut. The Rabanut is fighting back. Nobody should be allowed to choose. Choosing your own kosher certification is dangerous. It will lead to the end of the Jewish People as we know it. Just like it did for the 2,000 years when there was no official state Kosher monopoly. (I really despise these people.)
I didn’t read the article, I don’t want to, but I read the headline. Bagatz, Israel’s Supreme Court, is allowing the Rabanut to represent itself as they challenge the legality of private kosher certification.
Hate the Rabanut. May you bunch of Hillul Hashems who do nothing but make people hate Judaism and Halacha, lose badly.
The Jewish Libertarian 
I once read a strange idea that referendum is a sin, based on an example from the Bible – when king Solomon tried to count how many are following him God got angry and bad things followed.
Reading your ideas this starts to make sense – how many people (are Jewish, are religious, believe in God, don’t believe in God etc.) are God’s business. Because He created this system. The system was not created by Church, Rabbis, monarchies, governments, international organizations etc., when religion is concerned. If the organizations behave as if it’s all a convention then they can’t invoke faith. It’s for their own peace of mind that they want to know how many and it’s worse when they start planning for societies, making these “socialist” plans – how many to be born, when, how many work, how many don’t – based on the numbers they get. Whenever a referendum is being performed stupid or even evil plans of “world leaders” (religious or secular or modern) are being conceived.
So it makes sense why God got mad at this “numbering” of people.
And it’s worse when religious people are involved, they should be the ones staying out and advising the secular leaders into common sense (using God or not, according to their skills of conviction).
The leaders are tricksy and now they send the message that if referendum is a sin then so is election through vote. But who will represent them to God in this argument?
Further more, regarding peace and war – if the leaders don’t know how many will fight for them in a plan, how many can be forced to fight – then they can’t plan a war. They have to use their brains (evolution has stopped?) and think of something else. These “progressive paths” of modern world using war-like strategies for anything don’t create evolution (their key goal of 19th century) but involution.
I see religious parties everywhere selling themselves out as state-apparatus, not offering alternatives to people but indulging in world leaders + agenda idolatry. This will lead to the relativity of religion because they speak for the state(s). Yes the states have more spiritual freedom to be moronic sinners, however they can’t claim to be Heaven sent and when they do deep inside, what is called Creation within each human being will take human beings naturally to other paths (this being made through God).
The atheists are divided, some are free and skeptic about all, but some are sadly (for people so young!) devout worshipers of modern ideals loving counting, planning of all the international ideals and causes regardless as long as they promote ethics and social equity (also running polls). This is sad but is not that serious as what the other parties do. There were some attempt of organizing atheism into tribes and leaders but people quickly rejoiced freedom of thought and they do argue causes but then they can simply not do that.
Armagedonist zealots everywhere be warned that religion will never mean as much as they dream of being, especially now, based on their visions and haunting dreams, as long as they behave like the system of dr. Doom in the name of “high expectations AND God. It’s even worse they keep pushing God everywhere rather than not doing so, hoping He’s gonna throw thunders at the demos and keep the flock in line for them.
It was David, not Solomon. But close enough.
Ah, David even! Hope they forgive me.
How much is an Eida marriage license?
when I went it was 400. It’s probably more now. They’re on Strauss somewhere on the right side coming from King George.
I’ve been to the “offices” of the Eda Charedis beis din (where marriages are also handled) in Jerusalem. It’s just a small counter in what is otherwise a modest school building with limited hours.
The Rabbanut Beit Din (which is really under the auspices of the Ministry of Justice, like all state courts) would be ridiculous if it didn’t offend so many people.
To file for divorce (hey, it happens; thankfully not to me), you have to fill out a 20+ page form with all sorts of stupid details and hand over ~NIS450 (that’s just to file; actual court costs are much higher). To file for divorce at the Eida Charedis, the form is no different than any beis din adjudication request. A half page, with the names and addresses of both disputants, and pay the guy about NIS120. I believe actual hearing costs are also quite modest. It’s the world’s most powerful private beis din.
My understanding is that while anyone can bypass the Rabbanut marriage process, if you do want to avail yourself of the Eida beis din, it helps to “look” the part. At the very least, women dress modestly and men wear black pants and white shirt. No hat or jacket needed.
Yup, I remember the building well. I dressed in my normal clothes, white collared shirt and pants forget what color, no hat or anything like that. Kippah of course. She dressed in a long skirt and long sleeves, generally normal clothing for her. But yes, if you normally wear a T shirt and shorts and you want to go through them, don’t wear that, stick with pants and at least a collared simple shirt, and women cover everything, or you’re in for a hard time.
I did not know about the divorce part. That’s pretty cool.