If the Knesset passes a bill to open new regional offices
for marriage registration, as expected, it will be without the support of
Israel’s two chief rabbis.
Two months ago, during its first meeting under
newly-elected rabbis David Lau and Yitzhak Yosef, the chief rabbinical council
decided to call on the Knesset to reject the bill, labeled the “Tzohar
bill," after a religious organization that promotes ”dialogue and the
search for common elements of identity” among Jews in Israel.
The chief rabbinate has expressed disappointment over the
expected passage of the bill and complained that Religious Services Minister
Naftali Bennett and his deputy, Eli Ben Dahan, did not take their opinion into
account.
The bill will not be supported by MK Uri Maklev (United Torah
Judiasm), who has demanded that criminal sanctions be leveled against Orthodox
rabbis who hold private marriage ceremonies outside the auspices of the chief
rabbinate.
The chief rabbinate rejected the idea of opening regional
marriage registration offices when it first came up in 2011. Currently,
registration for marriage in Israel is done by region; couples can only
register with their local religious authority.
Following many cases in which local religious authorities
refused to register converts to Judiasm for marriage and created other
difficulties for Jewish couples to wed, the idea that was floated hat couples
should be allowed to register at the office of their choosing.
Attempts to
legislate this idea have gained momentum since the previous Religious Services
minister revoked Tzohar's authority to register couples for marriage, a
privilege that has in the past only been granted to ultra-Orthodox
institutions.
In the meantime, Tzohar has regained the ability to register
couples in multiple regions, but the new bill would grant that same ability to
rabbis throughout Israel.
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