In Israel yesterday, the Knesset voted 57- 14 (with one abstention) to give final passage to the so-called "Tzohar bill" which loosens the control of the country's Chief Rabbinate over who conducts Jewish wedding ceremonies. As reported by the Jerusalem Post, the new law allows a couple to open a marriage registration file with the local rabbinate of any district or city in Israel, rather than requiring the marriage be registered in the locality where the bride or groom lives. The legislation was supported by Tzohar, an organization of 600 national-religious Orthodox rabbis who say that many of their members have been precluded from obtaining licenses to perform marriages. In areas where Tzohar rabbis can perform ceremonies, they have set up more user-friendly systems.
Tzohar says that the haredi religious establishment wants to protect weddings as a source of income for rabbis who are approved by the Chief- Rabbinate and who often illegally charge couples for performing weddings. The Chief Rabbinate says that the new system will make marriage registrations unreliable and lead to inadvertent marriages that are not permitted by Jewish religious law.
