MK Elazar Stern's "Kosher Style" Restaurants!

כ"ג לחודש הרביעי תשע"ד

MK Stern after
being attacked
by a refugee

The chipping away of any remaining influence of Torah on the supposedly Jewish State of Israel pushes onwards, thanks to the efforts of MK Elazar Stern (HaTenu'ah)

You may recall that MK Stern as Gen. Stern, Head of IDF Personnel, was responsible for push behind the demanding that soldiers violate halakha. Oh, don't get me wrong. I am certain that Stern had a "rabbi" to back him up with some back flips on these issues, bending over backwards, as it were, to find backing for his agenda.

So, what was the latest MK Stern to pull out of his sleeve?

JPost.com: Bill approved to make restaurants kosher and open on Shabbat
According to MK Elazar Stern’s bill, the only requirement for a restaurant or other business to get kosher certification would be to serve kosher food.

Jeremy Sharon, July 14 2014

Having seemingly agreed upon a solution to his contentious conversion bill, Hatnua MK Elazar Stern had another controversial bill approved by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Monday, which will allow restaurants to receive a rabbinate kashrut license and stay open on Shabbat.(cont.)

Unlike Israeli hotels and soup kitchens open on Shabbath, money will be exchanged at these "kosher" restaurants.

Even those controversially kosher doughnut shops in the U. S. have set up a system in which its ownership transfers fully to a non-Jewish partner during Shabbath, major holidays, and all of Passover. I know that in at least one such shop, a bagel shop, the policy was never to cook anything on Shabbath, saving for warning up something already cooked in a microwave by a non-Jew.

The precautions taken by these American eateries make them look "ultra-Orthodox" compared to MK Stern's "kosher" restaurants. This new system of Open-On-Shabbos-Kosher restaurants is meant to help business owners financially The spiritual conditional of business owners and their customers more than just falls by the waist side; it gets thrown out the window. To put it bluntly, MK Stern makes it easier for business owners and their customers to violate Shabbath, yarmulke on his head not withstanding.

A certain descriptive noun comes to mind in relation to MK Stern's halakhic (Jewish legal) status. However, I would not want to risk violating Israeli law by "calling a government official a name." So, I will have to let you look this one up on your own. Might I suggest the Laws of Teshuvah of the Ramba"m... Oh, I don't know... maybe chapter three? 

Already we have seen the government intervene in matters of halakhah, mainly through its "legislate from the bench" extraordinaire, Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has involved itself with kashruth, Shabbath, not to mention countless other issues, with many mamlakhti (diehard State loyalist) "rabbis" insist are not halakhic matters, but rather political in nature. Do not get me started!

On the other hand, the entire Chief Rabbinate system, both on a state level, and on the military level, is nonoperational, a leftover from our lovely British and Turkish oppressors. The Chief Rabbinate's silence on gross violations of the Torah by the Israeli Government is deafening, in and of itself. In my opinion, it currently serves us only as a necessary evil to prevent the majority of the Jewish public from ingesting non-kosher food items, from marrying individuals who are prohibited to them, and to maintain proper divorce actions, to prevent mamzeruth, if nothing else.

My issue is not so much with Stern, as it is with the un-Jewish system of government of the Land of Israel, not the least of which is the lack of properly appointed, independent, Torah judicial body, ie. Sanhedrin.

More and more, I have been successfully convinced that the State of Israel is only Jewish based on cosmetics and window dressing, and the fact that a great many Jews happen to reside within it.

Fortunately, we may not have to worry about the "Stern Kosher Style" restaurant coming to a theater city near you,...at least not in the immediate future.

JPost.com: Bayit Yehudi vetoes Stern’s 6-day kashrut bill
Jeremy Sharon, July 17, 2014

“The Bayit Yehudi party continues to represent the most extreme positions in Judaism,” Hatnua MK Stern says following the move. (cont.)

Now, if an MK who identifies himself at "religious" believes that the Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) party is in the least bit extreme, and for opposing his "Kosher Style" restaurant scheme, then we have a much  bigger problem in the Jewish education department than any of us initially thought.

...The source said that Bayit Yehudi also opposed the bill on grounds of social welfare by obliging restaurant staff to work on Shabbat instead of enjoying a day of rest. (cont.)

Is this good reason? No. It is not. Yet, MK Stern, a graduate of the prestigious Netiv Meir Yeshiva in Jerusalem, finds it to be "extreme."

Sure, I understand that Bayit Yehudi is trying to reach secular Jews with their message, not to mention those "religious" Jews deluded into thinking that democracy has anything to do with a Torah way of life. Nevertheless, would it have killed it to protect Shabbath observance in its statement of opposition?

But, wait! MK Stern appears to redeem himself! Or rather he knows better than to take on the Torah head on, and attempts to chip away at one piece of the Torah, while appearing to support a different piece.

Life In Israel: Proposed law: Hebrew dates on driver's license (July 18, 2014)
a new law has been proposed, and has already passed its first reading in Knesset.

The new law will add a person's Hebrew birthday to his driver's license, rather than it just bearing the "English date"..

MK Elazar Stern (Hatnua) has proposed this law because recent studies have shown that over 50% of people in Israel do not know the Hebrew dates or even their Hebrew birthday.

This law is intended to strengthen that status of the Hebrew calendar, as an integral part of Israel being a Jewish state....

Sounds like a great idea, right? MK Stern should be praised, right? Wrong!

...Stern said that he believes Israel must remain both Jewish and democratic in character, but not at the expense of minorities.. the Hebrew date is an important part of this, but anybody who does not want it to appear on his or her license, for whatever reason, will be allowed to say so and the Hebrew date will not be added to that license.
source: Ladaat (cont.)

Stern ruins his new proposal, as he as ruined everything in his path, by his incessant attempts to Hellenize the Torah.

MK Stern would do well to review the authentic story behind the creation of the holiday of Hanukkah, not to mention the entire history of the Jewish People's battles against assimilation.

Unfortunately, I do believe that it would do him, nor the Jewish People, one darn bit of good.