Galei Tzahal (Army Radio) reports that the Petach Tikvah Rabbinate refuses to register an Ethiopian couple for marriage. The kallah arrived to register as she plans to get married in two months. She was told that she must bring a certificate from a recognized giyur and a letter from a rav attesting to her leading a Shomer Shabbos lifestyle.

The report adds that a rav in the marriage unit did a preliminary background check on the girl and according to the findings, her lifestyle is far from a religious one, recommending to her to go and register in Rishon L’Tzion, where her chosson resides.

The report adds Galei Tzahal interviewed over 30 couples and believes based on its findings, this is a “trend and not an isolated incident”, stating the city’s Sephardi Chief Rav, Rabbi Binyamin Atias, is responsible for marriage registry and he refuses to marry people from Ethiopian descent.

A spokesman for the Chief Rabbinate of Israel explains the Ethiopian community can be broken into two, those from the Beita Yisrael that arrived in the 1990s and the Falash Mura. The former is subjected to a probe to validate one’s Jewishness and the latter must present an accept certificate of conversion.

He points out that one presenting a conversion certificate must be accepted and a rav registering marriage does not have the right to reject the conversion of a person who today is not Shomer Torah and Mitzvos, but must conform with the ruling of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. He adds the doubts are eliminated once a certificate of conversion is issued and from that point, the person must be accepted based on that certificate regardless of his/her lifestyle. Hence, in the eyes of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, there is no place to ask a person if s/he is Shomer Torah and Mitzvos, for such a question is not relevant to the process.

The Tzohar Rabbinical Organization expressed deep outrage following the report on Monday, 13 Adar I, that Ethiopian couples are being denied the right to marry at the local branch of the Rabbinate in Petach Tikva. The organization released the following statement.

“We are truly shocked at this report. There is no way to excuse this disgraceful action aimed against dozens of couples who wanted nothing other than to register for marriage in their hometown.

“This is by no means the first time that this Rabbinate has acted in such a dismissive manner against couples who came to marry according to the local and halachic laws and we have already seen numerous cases where the Petach Tikva Rabbinate has rejected conversions performed by the Chief Rabbinate.

“Based on these continued developments, Tzohar will now seriously consider opening an office in Petach Tikva for registering marriages with the specific purpose of ensuring the interests of all residents of the city are being responded to.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)