Aaron Leibowitz

Aaron Leibowitz
Born	United States
Nationality	American-Israeli
Occupation(s)	Rabbi, Educator, Politician
Employer(s)	Jerusalem Municipality, Hashgacha Pratit
Known for	Founder of Yeshiva Sulam Yaakov, Councilor for the Yerushalmim party, Founder of Hashgacha Pratit
Notable work	Establishing independent kosher certification in Israel

Aaron Leibowitz is an American-born Israeli rabbi, noted educator, ^[1] and local politician. In 2006 he founded and headed Yeshiva Sulam Yaakov. ^[1] In 2015 he became a councilor on the Jerusalem Municipality for the Yerushalmim party. ^[2] In 2012 he started Hashgacha Pratit, a kosher certification independent of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate. ^[3]

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, despite this being illegal ^[3] in Israel.

He criticized the Chief Rabbinate as "racist" because of their views on who is a Jew, and their use of DNA testing to determine Jewish status.^[4]

References

1. "Leadership". www.sulamyaakov.com. Retrieved 2018-01-24.
2. "Rising to the challenge". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Retrieved 2018-01-24.
3. "Hiddush - Private kosher certification: Integrity or Fraud?". hiddush.org. Retrieved 2018-01-24.
4. "Chief Rabbinate admits using DNA tests to help determine Jewish status - Israel News - Jerusalem Post". www.jpost.com. Retrieved 2019-03-07.