Aaron Leibowitz
American-born Israeli rabbi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aaron Leibowitz (Hebrew: ארון ליבוביץ) 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]
Aaron Leibowitz | |
|---|---|
ארון ליבוביץ | |
| Born | |
| Occupations | 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 |
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]