For three years, Shai Ghini paid $500 per month for a kosher inspector to pop into his small Italian trattoria just off Jerusalem’s famous Mahane Yehuda market. He wanted to be able to call his restaurant, Topolino, kosher to attract Jerusalem’s religious clientele. Three years ago he gave up the certification and hasn’t looked back.

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"Part of it was the money," Ghini, with a gold earring in one ear, tells The Media Line. "But the real reason was they wanted me to use a special kind of lettuce that is resistant to bugs (which are not kosher). It was often brown and wilted. Then I heard they used a lot of pesticides, and I said, 'that’s it,' and we gave up the certificate."

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At the beginning, he says, his business declined by almost one-third. But it quickly recovered, and he counts many observant Jews among his clientele. One thing that makes it easier, he says, is that his restaurant serves only dairy, meaning there is no chance of violating the prohibition of serving dairy and meat together.

"As far as we’re concerned, we’re kosher," Ghini told The Media Line. "There are a lot of people who trust me and my word more than the rabbinate’s word that we’re kosher."

The restaurant uses only kosher products and is closed on the Jewish Sabbath. He says that more than one-third of his clientele are observant Jews. Customers don’t seem concerned by the lack of a certificate.

"It doesn’t bother me that there’s no kosher certificate," Mika Singer told The Media Line as she shared a romantic lunch with her Italian boyfriend. "I know this is a place where meat and milk isn’t served together. Why should a body that is making money from restaurants have to be involved?"

Kosher certification is big business. In Jerusalem, alone, some 1,000 businesses and restaurants have kosher certification from the Chief Rabbinate. The restaurant owners pay a few hundred dollars a year, as well as the salary of a kosher supervisor at $10.50 per hour. Rabbinate spokesman Ziv Maor says the supervisory body is providing a service to restaurants who want certification.

"There is no obligation for anyone to sell kosher food or to consume kosher food," Maor told The Media Line. "Anyone who wants to sell or consume non-kosher food has the full right to do so. What the Rabbinate does is protect Israeli citizens who wish to consume only kosher food by stating what is kosher."

Kosher means that all ingredients are certified according to Jewish Law, and produced under Rabbinic supervision. Maor says that mistakes, whether intentional or accidental, are often made. In his office, he keeps a closet full of products branded as kosher, which are clearly not. The most egregious violation is a bag of dumplings from Russia stuffed with pork instead of beef.

New restaurants say that getting certified kosher makes it much easier to attract business. Many Jerusalemites and tourists will only eat in kosher-certified establishments.

Rabbinate: False advertising

On Dorot Rishonim Street in downtown Jerusalem, Humus Abu Yoyo serves the ubiquitous chickpea paste. In an effort to attract customers, owner Erez Sapir offers "all you can eat hummus" for $6. He’s started a "hummus wall of fame" for anyone who eats more than three plates.

Sapir wants a kosher certificate and began the process with the Jerusalem Rabbinate. However, he also owns another restaurant across the street called Bolinat, which is listed in Lonely Planet. Bolinat is not kosher and is open on the Sabbath.

"The two restaurants and the two kitchens are completely separate," Sapir told The Media Line. "But because I also own a non-kosher restaurant, they want me to have a full-time inspector at the humus place, which could put me out of business."

He said he’s currently negotiating with the rabbinate to try to convince them to lower the number of hours he needs. Other restaurant owners, who did not want to be quoted, said they were paying for supervision they never really got. The inspector came rarely, and only for a few minutes each time. They said that if they wanted to, they could easily smuggle non-kosher products into their establishment.

At Topolino, Shai Ghini received a fine for almost $1,000 after he gave up his certification. The Rabbinate said it was for false advertising by describing the restaurant as kosher. Ghini said he never claimed he was kosher, although some of his reviewers might have. He chose to go to court rather than pay the fine, and the rabbinate has not pursued the case.

One Jerusalem rabbi is offering a different type of certification. Rabbi Aharon Leibowitz, the head of the Sulam Yakov yeshiva not far from Topolino, has launched a project in which his rabbinic students do voluntary inspections.

"We actually drew on rabbinic students who are studying the laws of kashrut," Leibowitz told The Media Line. "Instead of a hierarchical supervision we are offering a partnership that brought expertise into the institution, an objective voice and pair of eyes into the system, but instead of an adversarial relationship it was a partnership."

He said they hope to expand beyond Jerusalem and offer certification in other cities.

"Let’s begin to respect the ability of the consumer to choose his own standards," Leibowitz said. "If the owner says it’s kosher, and the customer trusts him, then why does the government of Israel feel that it should get involved?"

Article written by Linda Gradstein