TIMES OF ISRAEL
by Staff
July 11, 2015

At least two Israeli Orthodox rabbis have begun performing wedding ceremonies for Israeli Jews outside the official framework of Israel’s Chief Rabbinate, knowingly breaking the law, in an expression of opposition to the intertwining of religion and state and in protest at the rabbinate’s coercive and conservative approach. Even though the weddings are performed in strict accordance with Jewish religious law — halacha — the rabbis and the couples are breaching Israeli law and could all face up to two years in prison for their “crime,” Israel’s Channel 2 reported on Saturday night. Israeli law mandates that life-cycle events — birth, marriage, divorce and death — are handled under the monopoly of the Orthodox rabbinate. That monopoly is bitterly opposed by the leaderships of non-Orthodox Judaism… READ MORE