tel aviv | In an online game, prospective Israeli brides and bridegrooms construct their dream wedding — everything from venue to guest list to food.
Finally the punch line arrives: What kind of ceremony would they choose?
For most Israelis, there is little choice.
In a country without civil marriage, an Orthodox ceremony performed by the chief rabbinate is the only legally recognized union for Jews.
A growing number of Israeli Jews, however, are bypassing the rabbinate and marrying abroad. Some do so because they are not considered Jewish according to halachah, or Jewish law. Others are turned off by the rabbinate’s reputation for sluggish bureaucracy and pedantic questioning of petitioners’ Jewish identity.
The Conservative movement in Israel, called Masorti, is tapping into this discontent.
An advertising blitz that began nearly a year ago is spreading the message that other ways are available to marry within the fold of Jewish tradition in the Jewish state. The campaign includes radio spots, newspaper and online ads, and the online “Play the Wedding Game” portal.
The campaign has been a surprise hit for the movement. It also angered Shas, an Orthodox political party.
Yaakov Margi, the party’s Knesset chairman, asked the Israel Broadcasting Authority to pull the Masorti radio ads from the airwaves. In a letter to the authority, Margi wrote that the Masorti movement “knowingly misleads and perpetrates a campaign of fraud” because it misrepresents its wedding ceremony as traditionally Jewish.
The rabbinate also is taking issue with the campaign, asking the government to shut it down, according to Avi Blumenthal, a spokesman for the rabbinate.
Couples who consider the Masorti movement and marry under Conservative auspices still will not have their marriages recognized in Israel. They will need to marry abroad to gain legal recognition in the Jewish state.
The Masorti movement remains unrepentant, saying it hopes the campaign will convince more Israelis to marry in Jewish ceremonies rather than in civil ceremonies overseas. The movement estimates that some 20 percent of Israeli marriages take place abroad, many in nearby Cyprus.
“Young couples are giving up totally on having a Jewish chuppah, and we as a movement think that’s very problematic,” said Rabbi Tamar Elad-Appelbaum, the director of the Masorti movement’s wedding initiative. “Because of their reluctance to go to the rabbinate, which they hear is a difficult process, they give up on their heritage.”
The idea of the ad campaign, she said, has been to show Israelis there’s an alternative.
“We want them to see there is another way to marry, and that’s the Jewish way, under a chuppah, as has been done from generation to generation,” she said. “We need to make sure our young people do not lose touch with their traditions.
“And at the same time,” she added, “we want them to see they can still remain true to themselves at this important moment.”
While most Israelis are not religiously observant, Reform and Conservative Judaism have found little traction in Israel. Orthodoxy dominates religious life, with membership in non-Orthodox religious movements negligible by comparison.
Blumenthal insists the rabbinate is not out of touch with the public’s needs and has been doing its best to streamline the marriage process.
“We need to do what we do to assure we are following Jewish law; there is no unnecessary bureaucracy,” he said. “And we are working to improve our services all the time.”
“Play the Wedding Game” is in Hebrew at www.justloopit.com/masorti.