LET MY PEOPLE WED
Promoting Freedom To Marry in Israel
iRepJFNA’s Israel Religious Expression Platform
Shira Ben Sasson Furstenberg
October 2015
Public Support for Civil Marriage and/or Civil
Unions
Recently released polling data (September 2015) from Hiddush
shows an interesting picture of public support for civil
marriage or civil unions in Israel:
• 64% of Israelis favor recognizing all types of marriage,
including civil, Reform and Conservative.
• 90% of secular Jews and immigrants expressed support for
recognizing all types of marriage and the non-Haredi
population was 69% in favor.
• Among the Zionist Orthodox, 78% were against and 22% were
in favor.
Who are the couples choosing marriage
alternatives?
A slowly growing number of Israelis undergo marriage ceremonies independent of
and unrecognized by the rabbinate. In practice, Israelis may hold any kind of
unofficial ceremony that they want. Unlike non-Orthodox and civil weddings
performed abroad, these weddings when conducted in Israel are not recognized or
registered by Ministry of Interior. These weddings have yet to reach numbers
sufficient to cause change or otherwise influence the status quo.
“Liberally-minded, Jewishly engaged” Israelisweddings as a political / social statement.
• Couples who have strong roots in the Jewish
experience of English-speaking countries.
• Couples who are associates with the ‘Jewish
Renaissance’ movement.
• “The South Jerusalem Bubble".
• Approximately 1,500 of these weddings are
performed per year
2. People who cannot marry through the Rabbinate
• About 8% of the Israeli population cannot
marry their partner of choice in Israel (sexual
orientation, not recognized as Jewish, or they
are Cohanim.
• 318,500 Israelis (about 4% of the population)
are identified by Israel’s population registry as
having “no religion,” though they or their
parents were eligible for immigration to Israel
under the Law of Return.
3. Common Law Marriage and de facto Common
Law Marriage
• A growing group of Israelis have decided that official marriage
is unnecessary or too difficult to obtain and are living together
without a formal marriage having taken place.
• In the last decade, the number of Jewish couples that live
together unmarried has more than doubled from about
27,000 to 69,000 individuals.
• Today, 5% of Jewish Israeli couples live together unmarried.
• Legally, these couples enjoy nearly all of the rights afforded to
officially married couples.
The Theory of Change
all of the operational strategies are based on one of two premises:
• There is no freedom of choice in marriage in Israel because of the
Orthodox monopoly on religious life, which is controlled by the political
power wielded by the ultra-Orthodox parties and the status quo.
• There is no freedom of choice in marriage in Israel because the Israeli
public (especially the non-religious public) accepts the Orthodox
monopoly on religious and does not act effectively, neither on an
individual nor on a collective basis, to effect change.
Political Advocacy
Operating based on the first premise (Orthodox Monopoly),
political advocacy organizations promote policy change in the
realm of religion and state through legislative action1. Lobbing and Legislation.
2. Monitoring
3. Legal work in the courts
Public Education
Operating based on the second premise, a number of
organizations promote public education campaigns based on
three approaches:
1. increase awareness about the ultra-Orthodox monopoly on
religious services and the Rabbinate’s impact on Israelis’
lives.
2. build awareness about options for marriage outside of the
official system, promoting opportunities for Jewish weddings
outside of the rabbinate.
3. encourage Diaspora communities to apply pressure that can
serve to influence Israeli decision makers
Action From a Community Perspective
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Orthodox initiatives
Russian speaking Israelis
The Aguna issue
LGBTQ
The Diaspora Jewish connection
• The failure of Israel to provide civil marriage and recognize
Jewish marriages performed under the auspices of rabbis
from all streams of Judaism is alienating many Diaspora Jews.
• The absolute control over marriage ceded to the Chief
Rabbinate has created an irreconcilable divide between the
right to Israeli citizenship as guaranteed under the Law of
Return and the right to enjoy the freedom of religion and
conscience as guaranteed by the Declaration of
Independence;
What can we do?
1. Talk about it- family, friends, Rabbis, leaders.
(it really worked WOW)
2. Support organizations working to promote
change.