Aaron Leibowitz () is an American-born

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i rabbi, noted educator, and local politician. In 2006 he founded and headed Yeshiva Sulam Yaakov. In 2015 he became a councilor on the

Jerusalem Municipality The Jerusalem Municipality (), the seat of the Israeli municipal administration, consists of a number of buildings located on Jaffa Road in the city of Jerusalem. History British Mandate town hall (1930) Jerusalem's old town hall was bui ...

for the Yerushalmim party. In 2012 he started ''Hashgacha Pratit'', a

kosher certification A hechsher or hekhsher (; "prior approval"; plural: ''hechsherim'') is a rabbinical product certification, qualifying items (usually foods) that conform to the requirements of Jewish religious law. Forms A hechsher may be a printed and signed ...

independent of the

Israeli Chief Rabbinate The Chief Rabbinate of Israel (, ''Ha-Rabbanut Ha-Rashit Li-Yisra'el'') is recognized by law as the supreme rabbinic authority for Judaism in Israel. It was established in 1921 under the British Mandate, and today operates on the basis of the ...

. In 2018 he handed over the kosher certification to the larger organization, Tzohar, remaining CEO. The organization began officiating weddings outside of the

Chief Rabbinate Chief Rabbi () is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities. Since 1911, through a capitulation by Ben-Zion Meir ...

, despite this being illegal in Israel. He criticized the Chief Rabbinate as "racist" because of their views on

who is a Jew "Who is a Jew?" (, ), is a basic question about Jewish identity and considerations of Jewish self-identification. The question pertains to ideas about Jewish personhood, which have cultural, ethnic, religious, political, genealogical, and pe ...

, and their use of

DNA testing Genetic testing, also known as DNA testing, is used to identify changes in DNA sequence or chromosome structure. Genetic testing can also include measuring the results of genetic changes, such as RNA analysis as an output of gene expression, or ...

to determine Jewish status.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leibowitz, Aaron Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Israeli rabbis Israeli educators American emigrants to Israel 21st-century American rabbis