A rare ruling by the Jerusalem Family Court allowed a chareidi girl from Betar Illit to marry in spite of the fact that she is only 17, with the law permitting marriage from the age of 18 and over.
The Jerusalem Family Court last week gave its permission for the wedding of the chareidi girl from Betar Illit to marry a yeshiva student from Jerusalem, who is only one year older than her. Since the law only allows women over the age of 18, the couple petitioned the Family Court against the Office of the Attorney General, which opposed the wedding.
In their request, the couple claimed that postponing the wedding would cause distress to the couple, and especially to the minor bride, since the date of the wedding had already been determined, the guests were invited, and the banquet hall was chosen. The couple and their parents also claimed that postponing the wedding would cause the couple financial damages.
In the petition, an application was filed to allow the 17-year-old to marry an 18-year-old boy. The couple stated that they did not know about the prohibition on marrying under 18 years of age. In addition, the chareidi groom noted that he respects the state’s laws because “Dinah Demalchusa Dina”.
Attorney Meir Heller, who represented the young couple, reportedly told Kikar Shabbos News, “The judge was impressed that the couple did not deliberately ignore the law. In a rare event, Justice Oren Eliaz allowed the couple to marry despite the state’s opposition, and although no special circumstances were presented to justify the marriage.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
6 Responses
Fools! Legislation restricting marriage to 18 is lowering the standards of a baby’s health! The best human eggs (ova) to produce a healthy child start at puberty. Hence, the percent chance of genetically abnormally embryos increases significantly over time. See full article at: “https://extendfertility.com/facts-figures/fertility-statistics-by-age”] I will quote a sections of the article:
“A woman is born with all the eggs she’ll ever have, which at birth, is typically around 1 million. By puberty, she usually has half that—and each month after puberty, she loses up to 1,000 eggs. Of those, only one egg is matured and ovulated each month.”
“Egg quality is diminished over time (AKA with age), as a woman is exposed to all of the inevitable forces of everyday life—illness, toxins, free radicals, fever, and more—that can damage the DNA inside her eggs. That’s why, as a woman gets older, it’s more likely that she’ll have genetically abnormal eggs, resulting in no pregnancy, miscarriage, or genetic disorders for the baby.”
The law is plainly stupid. Another six months to allow her to marry makes a difference? A 17 year old is less ready than an 18 year old due to an arbitrary age set by stupid legislators? Jews have been getting married at 17, if not younger, continually long before the state of “Israel” existed and from 1948 until today, uninterrupted.
B”H
MINIMUM AGE IN CYPRUS IS 16 WITH PARENTAL CONSENT.
Why can’t they just have an halachic marriage, and file the civil marriage when both parties are of legal age over 18? It’s a shame that all the planning and financial expense of a wedding was the compelling reason why the two should get married. If they wanted to be married and start a family, they can get halachically married in a Rav’s office with a bottle of wine. Have the wedding party and civil marriage when age appropriate (according to the State).
They didn’t know it’s illegal to get married under 18? Really? How are they going to run a household if they are so out of the loop on such basic things?
Not sure how to put this in a way the mods will like but I wonder if the real reason is because their parents are going to be bubbes and zeides ahead of schedule?