A district court in Lod, an Israeli city, ruled Friday that Israel’s Interior Ministry is required to recognise the marriages of couples who use a virtual wedding service provided by Utah County in Utah.
If the decision stands, it would mean that couples who do not want to or cannot have an Orthodox Jewish wedding could get the benefits of marriage without leaving Israel, as they are currently required to do.
Those include LGBT+ couples, interfaith couples, and couples in which one partner is not recognised by one of the established religious authorities and couples who are committed to non-Orthodox Judaism.
This is actually quite a rational compromise. Let's face it - these "partnerships" are happening in Israeli society, to our sorrow. We don't want unholy weddings performed in the Land, on the other hand. So this is a good compromise - let's them have their "ceremony", keeps it out of the public sphere.
ReplyDeleteThe reason you are making this concession is?
ReplyDeleteIt's not much of a concession. If someone downloads software from China, the purchase is from China, not Israel. So online tumah marriage is also from Cyprus, not Israel. Instead of booking flights from Israel, they buy the certificate online.
ReplyDeleteBecause people are doing it anyway. Right now these same two people fly to Cyprus, have the ceremony and then come back and the government recognizes it. This saves them the flight while not actually changing the situation.
ReplyDeleteIsrael is a sovereign country, and is entitled to define what constitutes "marriage", when it is performed between people are physically within its sovereign borders.
ReplyDeleteYour analogy to downloading software, ignores the fact that sovereign countries have laws determining what may or may be not downloaded. So if someone gets caught downloading something which is considered illegal in your country, they will be prosecuted, despite the fact that the material may be hosted in a country where this material is considered legal. The bottom line is, that people are bound to the laws of the country they are presently in.
If Israel is sovereign, then too bad when they don't totally follow halacha or daas Torah.
ReplyDeleteHowever they do recognise foreign marriage certificates.
Yes the analogy is not a perfect one. But it is a virtual certificate. There are problems with airports, covid etc. From halachic perspective, it makes no different. It is as posul as it would be if they attended some church or town hall in Cyprus or Haiti.
Well Said, IR!
ReplyDeleteWe don't need to make it easier for them to legitimize their sinning.
ReplyDeletelook what you said in a previous comment -
ReplyDelete"Israel is a sovereign country, and is entitled to define what constitutes "marriage""
What's wrong with what I said?
ReplyDeleteIf you really mean what you said, do not complain when they do something you disapprove of.
ReplyDelete"Israel is a sovereign country, and is entitled to define what constitutes "marriage". However Israel is also a Jewish country; and the laws of marriage were entrusted to the Israeli Rabbinate. As such, marriage in Israel should be done in accordance to Halacha.
ReplyDeleteAs a sovereign country, Israel has a secular problem, which is that they want reciprocity regarding the recognition of marriages performed in the respective countries. Therefore, on a secular level, and for secular legal purposes, Israel is forced to recognize marriages performed in a foreign country.
That is not to say, that Israel could be forced to recognize foreign marriage certificates issued to people who never left Israel. Israel has autonomy in this area, and refusing to do so would not interfere with the general reciprocity.
If Israel does choose to recognize virtual marriages, that is simply a concession to the sinners, and makes it easier for them to blur the distinction between a legitimate Jewish marriage, and an illegitimate one.
If Israel wants to maintain its identity as a Jewish state, then it must insist on maintaining the status quo of Jewish marriage.