In an urgent meeting on Sunday night the eve of 28 Cheshvan 5774, rabbonim of the Tekuma faction of the Bayit Yehudi party called on the party to vote against the Tzohar Law. The law mimics the intentions of Rabbanei Tzohar who seek to lower restrictions for marriage registration as a first major step in making religious services in Israel “friendlier” to citizens. The law is scheduled to be voted upon in its second and third readings and if passed, it will become law.
MKs in Bayit Yehudi affiliated with the Tekuma faction include Housing Minister Uri Ariel, Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan, Zevulun Kalfa and Orit Struk. The Chief Rabbinate of Israel Council also remains opposed to the bill.
Leading the Tekuma rabbonim is HaGaon HaRav Dov Lior Shlita.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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6 Responses
Baruch Hashem, the law passed.
The MKs affiliated with Tekumah must not read YWN, for they all supported the bill and voted for it.
As an outsider, need a factual & accurate assessment why a couple should not be able to choose the Rabbi of their choice when it comes to conducting a marriage ceremony?
A kallah from Detroit and a chasson from Monsey will choose a Rav from Florida to conduct their wedding l’fi halacha….why does it matter? and whom does it negatively affect?
#2- The previous law created ‘captive audiences’ – couples who wished to be married by the Rabbanut had no choice but to be married by the local rabbi, many of whom abused the situation, charged exorbitant fees (which they are not legally entitled to) and gave terrible service (they would book many weddings every night, be late for most, treat the couples with disrespect and be off to the next wedding). Tzohar was founded to confront this situation, which had brought tens of thousands of couples to forgo a wedding by the Rabbanut, and to opt for civil marriages instead. They have been extremely successful by offering Orthodox weddings for no fee which are conducted by rabbis who have maor panim, who treat the couple with respect and spend time with them and do not perform more than one wedding a night. Tzohar suggested that the Rabbanut adopt their system, but this did not sit well with many rabbis who make a great deal of money by performing wedding ceremonies and who, quite frankly, dislike many of the people that come to them – and show it. They knew that if the Rabbanut were to adopt the Tzohar model they would effectively be put out of business and have been fighting tooth and nail against the law. The primary motivating factor against the law has been – money.
HMMMHMMMM…me think #3 got a point there.
# 3
Perfect! I could not have written it better than you, you are exactly right.
Yagel – I agree with you completely, but have a minor factual correction to your first post. Not all Tekuma MKs voted for the bill, though none voted against it. Orit Struk was absent for the vote.
an Israeli Yid