Aaron Leibowitz is an American-born Israeli rabbi, noted educator, [1] and local politician.
[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.