While the rabbonim of the Tekuma faction of the Bayit Yehudi party oppose the new Marriage Registration Bill, the bill was passed into law. The law permits people wishing to register with the Rabbanut for marriage to do so in any city in the country as opposed to being limited to the city of residence as in the past.

First and foremost, it shows the members of the party for who they are for despite the stern objections from Tekuma rabbonim, led by Rabbi Dov Lior Shlita, the party pushed ahead and passed the bill into law.

A Bluff: It’s Not Bennett’s Bill

Bayit Yehudi party officials are waving a flag of victory, telling the public the party promised major reforms in religious services and this represents a big component of that package. However, if one follows the dateline of the bill, it began before Naftali Bennett and his Bayit Yehudi party was on the scene. In fact, Bennett was the director-general of the Yesha Settlement Council at the time the bill passed its first reading in Knesset, during the tenure of the previous Knesset.

The bill was pushed by MK Fanny Kirshenbaum of the Yisrael Beitenu party, not the dati leumi party. Other MKs were involved including Ze’ev Elkin, and the bill was officially written in the records sponsored by MK Eitan Cabel of the Labor party. This tidbit does not seem to interfere with Bennett and his colleagues claiming the victory.

Since the last Knesset elections, Bennett and Deputy Minister of Religious Services Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan have been pushing the bill, which has since been dubbed the Rabbanei Tzohar Bill since it mimics religious reform in line with that NGO.

In another tidbit of recent history, following the elections the bill got vetoed by Justice Minister Tzipi Livni in a retaliatory move against Bayit Yehudi after the later vetoed a bill by her colleague in The Movement party, MK Elazar Stern, which intended to add women to the voting body for the nation’s chief rabbis.

To the Present

While anyone familiar with the current system cannot deny the need for an overhaul of the system involving marriage registration, this is not what is going to protect Halacha and maintain marriage in accordance with Halacha in Israel. Opponents warn the new law will lead to forbidden marriages in addition to trampling on the concept of a mora d’asra in a city, referring to that city’s chief rabbi.

Rabbonim warn that while in the past the process of verifying the chosson and kallah are single and eligible to marry encountered problematic cases from time-to-time, the number of these cases is expected to increase significantly since registration can take place anywhere in the country. When a resident of a city files with a local rabbinate, the rabbonim usually find the means to verify the integrity of the claim that the couple is indeed “eligible” for it is a local matter and there are generally rabbonim in that city who can assist. The experts also fear that the new reality will permit candidates whose Jewishness is in question to get in under the radar for screening of registrants will be compromised as a result of the new nationwide regionalized system.

The critics add there are always two sides to every coin and while Rabbi Ben-Dahan announced the competition between religious councils will result in competition, each seeking the revenue from the registration process, they are not convinced as he is this will result in improved service. That is to say Ben-Dahan feels the competition will compel the local religious authorities to be more cooperative with registrants. The critics feel “more cooperative” may chas v’sholom translate to giving the green light to questionable couples in the name of generating income for ailing religious councils. When in the past these couple had no alternative but to register locally, the rabbis were not pressured from the financial point of view. The critics ask “when has competition resulted in an improvement in government services?”

The rabbonim who fear the outcome of the new liberal policy point out that one wishing to obtain services from Bituach Leumi, the Ministry of the Interior or State Employment Services must visit the office in one’s home city, so why the need to treat marriage registration differently?

The critics feel that instead of revamping the system the ministry simply has to enforce the current regulations, which include compelling rabbonim to accept the regulations of the nationwide system as governed by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and not seek to create their own autonomous realities.

The bill was voted into law on Monday evening 24 Cheshvan 5774 in a vote of 54-17. Bayit Yehudi leader did not waste time and used his Facebook page to announce the parliamentary victory and how the new law will facilitate the marriage registration process for 35,000 couples annually.

Gafne Responds

However MK (Yahadut Hatorah) Moshe Gafne did not share Bennett’s euphoria, warning the Chief Rabbinate of Israel will lose trust in the eyes of frum Jewry and the new reality will lead to a need to maintain lineage records, sifrei yuchasin. Gafne warned of the ramifications of this horrific law, shouting “You are not frum” and “you are destroying the entire marriage registry process. Shame to the party that calls itself religious while it harms rabbis including its own rabbonim, all in an effort to please. It is all about maintaining power. Religious issues are not important to Bayit Yehudi. You don’t care about harming the Rabbanut. My face would show my embarrassment over supporting such a law.”

Rabbi David Stav Responds

Rabbi David Stav, who heads the Tzohar Rabbonim organization stated “It is hard to describe in words just how significant the passing of the law is”. Posting to his Facebook page the rav wrote “When we launched Tzohar and my competing in the race for the Chief Rabbinate, we placed one goal in our sights, to make it easier for young couples to marry K’das Moshe V’Yisrael”.

“The law intends to end the feeling of humiliation of kosher giyorim who felt scorned in certain places, improving services significantly for all couples and to end the discrimination in which rabbis are disqualified simply for their affiliation with Tzohar.”

“Following my loss in the elections for the Chief Rabbinate of Israel I promised the people of Israel to continue to lead this fight outside of the Rabbinate. Today we have achieved the first stage in this promise and we are continuing to fulfill my promise of 3 Elul regarding the realm of kashrus, conversion and marriage in accordance to Halacha and with love; towards transforming the State of Israel to being more Jewish and more connected.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)