Rabbi David Ohion, rabbi of the Yishuv Alfie Menashe and rabbi of the city of KPS, was one of the biggest opponents of the kosher reform promoted by Minister Kahane. But now, even though the rabbis signed a document calling for behavior as it was before the reform, Rabbi Ohion is not impressed at all and uses it to his advantage
Rabbi David Ohion, who serves as the rabbi of the Yishuv Alfie Menashe and acting rabbi of the city of Kfar Saba, was a major opponent of the kosher reform. Rabbi Ohion, who is also the head of the council of rabbis of the cities, launched an attack in the media against Minister Kahana for the reform promoted by then-minister and now Deputy Minister Matan Kahana.
Between Hayter, Rabbi Ohion claimed in an interview that the reform “comes at the expense of the ordinary people who will go to the supermarket, assuming that it is about a few million people who eat kosher, and following the reform millions of people will eat non-kosher food.”
One of the sections that the rabbis opposed in the reform, is a section that allows any rabbi of a city to grant kosher to other cities. The fear was that rabbis would undermine the local rabbis and harm the local kashrut system.
But, that ‘in the ultra-Orthodox rooms’ because while Rabbi Ohion attacks the reform, on the other side he uses it to his advantage, even though many rabbis signed a document calling not to use the reform and to continue to conduct themselves as it was before.
Rabbi Ohion recently signed koshrui in the city of Kfar Saba, by virtue of his position as rabbi of Alfie Menashe, a step he is allowed to carry out following the reform that Kahane promoted and which he strongly opposed.
In Rabbi Ohion’s defense, it can be said that the claim that he is undermining the city rabbi does not hold true here, since he serves as acting rabbi of Kfar Saba, but the precedent he created by using the reform is still puzzling, and others may follow suit.
In response to the request from ‘Bechadari Haredim’, Rabbi Ohion said that “since I am authorized to sign in both cities and any business owner from the above places who wants and desires as long as it is the same rabbi who signs, and there is no harm to his friends or the rabbi of the place, there is no obstacle.”
The rabbi also stated that “many of the businesses are fed up with the religious council in Kfar Saba that does not provide timely service and delays the issuance of kosher certificates, so they decided to move to other places, not necessarily Alfie Menashe, Kochav Yair, and other places.”