Last week, Israel’s religious services minister made a ruling that was going to prevent an organization of Modern Orthodox rabbis from performing religious wedding ceremonies for non-religious couples.
Now, however, after an uproar, the Tzohar organization is going to be allowed to continue to register the couples in the community of Shoham.
In Israel, a Jewish couple must have a religious ceremony in the Holy Land in order to be recognized as married, and many who desire this call on the services of Tzohar.
However, the weddings must be registered with the municipal rabbinate where one member of the couple lives, and Tzohar had been registering its weddings in either Shoham or Gush Etzion — two municipal rabbinates headed by members of the organization — regardless of the bride and groom’s residency. That was in contravention of Israeli law, Ya’akov Margi, Israel’s religious services minister and a member of the haredi Orthodox Shas Party, said early last week.
But he changed his tune a few days later, telling Ynetnews that he was trying to fix flaws in the wedding registration system, not shut down Tzohar. Now, a bill proposed to loosen restrictions on where marriages can be registered will begin to work its way through the system, Tzohar said Nov. 10.
Tzohar said it marries about 3,000 couples a year free of charge. Many other non-religious Israeli couples travel abroad to marry in secular ceremonies. — jta