Episode Details

In July 2026, Israel's new government revoked state recognition of Tzohar's kosher certification, re-establishing the Chief Rabbinate's monopoly over kashrut. But this isn't a simple religious dispute — it's a political and economic battle over who gets to decide what "kosher" means. This episode unpacks what Tzohar actually offers differently (spoiler: it's not leniency), how the Jewish world went from a simple binary to a bewildering marketplace of competing hechshers, and why the modern obsession with ever-increasing stringency is historically unusual. From processed food's role in creating the certification industry to the credentialing arms race that followed, we trace how kashrut became a brand identity.