Aaron Leibowitz

Aaron Leibowitz is an American-born Israeli 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 for the Yerushalmim party. In 2012 he started Hashgacha Pratit, a kosher certification independent of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate.

Rabbi Leibowitz has attracted some controversy: 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 in Israel. In a second incident, he called the Chief Rabbinate "racist" because of their views on who is a Jew, and their use of DNA testing to determine Jewish status.