The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word TREFA
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
T
R
E
F
A
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Leaders among the rabbinate examining food ascertain it to be so?" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case leaders among the rabbinate examining food ascertain it to be so? = trefa.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.