Bayit Yehudi MKs Shuli Moalem-Refaeli and Moti Yogev are sponsoring a bill that seeks to prohibit civil service rabbis from charging to perform a chasenah in the confines of their city/municipality. The Ministerial Legislative Committee is scheduled to discuss the bill.

The state attorney general back in 2009 ruled that a civil service rav may not charge to perform a chupah for as long as at least one of the couple lives in the jurisdiction of his religious council.

The MKs explain that the state attorney general�s ruling does not correct the situation. For example, the ruling does not prohibit the rabbi from charging a couple from a different religious council getting married in his jurisdiction.

(YWN � Israel Desk, Jerusalem)