The Emunah Women’s Organization has petitioned Israel’s Supreme Court seeking to legitimize females in the field of kashrus mashgichim. Organization leaders tell the court there is no reason that the Chief Rabbinate of Israel’s Kashrus Unit has not found a way to bring qualified women in to work as kashrus inspectors. Thirteen women have completed a course, and they are asking to be given the Chief Rabbinate exam to become certified as kashrus mashgichim. To date, the Chief Rabbinate has failed to administer the exam to them.

Emunah Women contacted the Chief Rabbinate 14 months ago, but nothing has moved towards certifying the women. Emunah adds the situation mimics that which took place 20 years ago, when female rabbinical advocates tried entering the field and today they are an integral part of the system. “No one could have imagined then that these female advocates would appear before batei din, but they do,” they add. There is already a mesorah of women being mashgichot in the United States. Mrs. Leah Friedman, a pious, Hasidic Holocaust survivor, served as one on a dairy farm in Albany, NY in the 1950s and 60s. There were other women who served as well.