Despite widespread opposition in and out of the Chief Rabbinate system, the Bayit Yehudi party’s nationwide marriage registration law was passed. The essence of the new law is that couples wishing to get married with the Chief Rabbinate of Israel may register online and they are no longer compelled to report to one of the nation’s 130 religious councils.
In the past, one had to register locally, applying for a ‘teudat ravakut’, a certificate attesting to one being single and eligible to marry. This entailed having two people come to the religious council and declare “I know him and he is single”. A rav would write the identification number of the two witnesses and that completed the process. In essence, no check was conducted and in larger cities around the country where most residents are not known by the rabbis in the local religious council, the process many felt was meaningless. However, it did compel the witnesses to travel to the local religious council where the file was opened to show their ID cards.
Since the passing of the law months ago it has yet to become operational. There are growing allegations that the system is intentionally delaying implementation of the law, for the Chief Rabbis and others oppose it. Among the critics is Rabbi David Stav, who heads the nationwide Tzohar Rabbis organization. He feels it is clear “they received orders from higher up” to delay implementation of the law. Rabbi Stav made his comments during an interview with Galei Tzahal (Army Radio) host Razi Barkai on Monday, 10 Adar I 5774.
Chief Rabbinate of Israel Director-General Elchanan Glatt told Barkai that the allegations are simply not true for no one is trying to prevent implementing the law. Glatt explains that “it takes time to get a centralized computer system up and running, which entails connecting the computers of 130 local religious councils and building a database.”
Glatt estimates the system will be operational by the end of February 2014.
Barkai questioned perhaps Rabbi Stav is correct, adding it is known that Chief Rabbi David Lau opposed the new nationwide registration system. Glatt said this is simply not so for it was passed into law and it will be implemented as it should. Glatt added that despite the fears of some rabbonim, the new system includes sufficient safety measures to maintain the Halachic integrity of the Chief Rabbinate marriage system.
Rabbi Stav added that the matter of one obtaining a ‘teudat ravakut’ is a farce, for everyone knows one can simply ask two friends to come down, show their ID cards and say “he is not married” and the matter is resolved. He explained that Tzohar has always maintained there is no integrity to the process, which seems to be another layer of bureaucracy intended to permit the rabbinate to cover itself.
Rav Stav warns the situation here is not one of just making the registration process easier, but it comes down to realizing that each year more Israelis opt to marry outside the system and the increase in marriage not in line with Halacha will spell catastrophe down the line. Rav Stav says the situation is urgent and critical and the nationwide database must get up-and-running ASAP. Rabbi Stav stresses ‘making it easier’ refers only to removing the bureaucratic red tape and in no way refers to becoming more lenient from a Halachic perspective. He reports that Tzohar last year handled 4,000 marriages, Baruch Hashem saving many from not marrying in line with Halacha.
Glatt reports that there have already been 3,000 marriage requests online since January 1, 2014. Rabbi Stav added that this is not relevant for the data from the Chief Rabbinate does not indicate how many of these are seeking to register outside of their city of residence. Stav explains that unless that number exceeds 4,000 annually, nothing will have been accomplished towards minimizing non-Halachic marriages.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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One Response
It should be pointed out that by halacha there is no requirement to establish that one is single, nor even to prove that one is Jewish. Marriage requires (at most) a kesubah, a kiddushin and bi’ah, with no requirement for a priest or rabbi or clerk to do anything.
It should also be noted that anyone frum can be trusted not to marry, or live together, contrary to halacha, and that anyone who isn’t frum will be in no prevented by government regulation from entering into “married life” due to lack of state authorization.