The Ministry of Religious Services is taking steps to get tough with rabbonim who ignore state law. Only rabbonim who are authorized to conduct a chupah or divorce may do so, not just any rav, and Deputy Minister of Religious Services Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan recently stated he is going to restore order to the system.
The ministry is pushing a bill that would permit sending a rabbi to jail if he conducted a chupah or arranged a get and is not authorized to do so. The maximum prison term for these offenses will be two years.
One reason given is this permits a recalcitrant husband to remarry without giving a get. Ben-Dahan cites a number of cases in recent months in which a husband refused to give a get after it he decided her conversion was invalid and therefore, she does not require a get. Ben-Dahan plans to push the bill into law permitting criminal sanctions against any rabbonim who feel they have the right to deal with these issues and circumvent the official system. The rav explains he was compelled to act after dealing with a case in which a rabbi explained he has no problem marrying a couple for as long as they are okay in the eyes of Halacha, adding “the law doesn’t interest me”.
Ben-Dahan warns “such behavior will leave many women as agunos as their husbands go on to start new lives. The husband marries another wife and leaves the wife behind, unable to move ahead with her life.”
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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14 Responses
So we should expect to see Rabbanim who don’t hold of the Zionists State in jail and their “religious laws”. Ben-Dahan the big chacham will decide who’s authorized and who’s not.
“the law doesn’t interest me”.
There are excellent countries to emigrate to if the LAW DOESN’T interest them or even isolated kehillos in USA where the LAW holds no value.
This appears to be yet another effort to attempt to surpress the hareidi community, and shows how far Medinat Yisrael has deviated from being a Jewish state. By halacha, all you need are a hasan and a kallah (note that in Hebrew this requires that the former be male, the latter female), and witnesses. The rabbi is a legal advisor and nothing more. This is in contrast to the Christian tradition in which the clergyman “celebrates” a marraige and thereby rends it valid.
The zionists hope that by controlling all aspects of domestic relations they can effectively ban hareidim from functioning within Israeli society, and in effect will force them to go underground. It opens the door for requiring “rabbis” to “perform” marriages between two men, two women, between a Jew, between a woman and multiple men, etc. – and to imprison anyone who opposes this policy.
Even under government considered unfriendly to Jews, such as under the Muslims or the Christians (e.g. Czarist Russia at its worst), Jews were allowed to conduct their domestic relations according to halacha. This suggests in the sort of country Ben Dahan is working for, Jews (meaning real Jews, the Jews who haven’t abandonned Torah) will be worse off then under the worst of the Muslims or Christians.
Reducing the problem with agunos is not a function of the “rabbi” – it’s a function of: 1) making sure men are liable for their wife’s spending up until the “get”; 2) serious sanctions for a man refusing to write a “get” (such as prison or forefeiture of his property or even the traditional flogging); 3)prohibiting extramarital sexual activity with meaningful sanactions (i.e criminalizing adultery and enforcing the law)
Banning Hareidim, while serving many zionist purposes, doesn’t affect the issue.
“the law doesn’t interest me”
Sounds like the president of the USSA.
Mr. Ben-Dahan is foolish. Eidah, Brisk, Satmar and others have been making weddings kiddushin kdas moshe vyisroel since before the zionist state existed and ever since. And they will not be stopping despite any state regulations or wishes.
“This appears to be yet another effort to attempt to surpress the hareidi community, and shows how far Medinat Yisrael has deviated from being a Jewish state. By halacha, all you need are a hasan and a kallah (note that in Hebrew this requires that the former be male, the latter female), and witnesses.”
LOL! The truth is the opposite!!! It is the CHAREDIM who opposed the new Tzohar law which prevented anyone the charedi-dominated official rabbinate didn’t like from officiating at a wedding. Halachically, anyone can serve as mesader kedushin (technically, even a woman). It is the charedi-dominated rabbinate who have deviated from Jewish tradition here.
charliehall: Hareidim don’t even recognize the government. They don’t accept government money. They do not work for the zionist rabbinate, and refer to it in terms not fit to be used on YWN. The so-called hareidi opposition to the law are not really hareidim – a black hat on a zionist does not make him hareidi.
akuperma #4: A husband has no obligation to give a “Get” to his wife if he wishes to remain married to her, even if she wants a divorce.
@akuperma – Actually, the Chareidim took control of the Religious Ministry for a long while and added many of their Chumros which are just that – Chumros, not Halacha. (Oh and they’re all complaining that the government wants to stop giving them money, obviously they DO take money from the government.
And while we’re on that topic, you can say that the Chareidim are the irreligious Jews compared to the “Zionists.” The Jews you label as “zionists” also followed Halacha before the founding of the state and still do nowadays. They care about Halacha also. The Chareidim do many things that aren’t necessarily within the bounds of Halacha, such as imposing their own Chumros upon other people. Whereas, the “zionists” don’t. etc…
Akuperma: so according to your logic, the Belzer Rebbe, Gerrer Rebbe et al are not Charedi? That would be news to most of Klal Yisroel.
The whole issue – both from the tzohar end and from Mr. Ben Dehan’s sounds weird. A man performs a religious legal ceremony, a marriage. You do not need to recognize it for your country, and it can remain with mere halachik validity (as opposed to secular legal validity) or you may choose to recognize it. But in any event can there be anything criminal about it? If Belz has a ceremony that makes someone into a Belzer (hypothetically) can it be criminal? If you want, recognize its validity. If you don’t, ignore it. What can be criminal here?
The same for a Tzohar Rabbi: go ahead and perform a marrige. Halacha will – perforce – recognize it. Will the state of Israel recognize it? Maybe Yes, maybe No. Why care?
Also, how will this crime be prosecuted? Can they prosocute a rabbi in the USA for performing a marriage? So they will recognize a rabbi in the USA but not Bnei Brak? What if they marry in the USA consulate? The whole thing is childish!
lebidik yankel #12: Well said.
And to further your point, you don’t even need a Rabbi to be mesader kesushim. Any poshut Jewish man can be mesader without any rabbis present; just any two random Jewish male witnesses.
@ Toras Moshe
You do not know what you are talking about. See Kedushin 6a towards the bottom. not just anyone can be mesader kedushin. This would seem to include you (as you do not know this halacha).