Chief Rabbinate opposes Bennett's marriage registry reform

The Chief Rabbinate on Thursday said that it would fight Religious Services Minister Naftali Bennett'sproposed marriage registry reform, meant to enable couples who wish to marry to be able to do so through any local rabbinate. Currently, couples can obtain marriage licenses only through the rabbinate in their city of residence.

According to Army Radio, Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi David Lau and Chief Sephardi Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef both informed the Chief Rabbinate Council that they would oppose the reform, which Bennett has been promoting for three months.

Bennett (Habayit Hayehudi) announced in May that he intended to change the existing system "to allow couples to register with any religious council they wish." Bennett said the reform would make obtaining a marriage license easier and streamline the religious councils' work.

"We have a responsibility to ensure that the process of issuing a marriage license is done correctly and we intend to do just that," Lau said. "If everyone [in the Chief Rabbinate] is opposed to this reform we need to get to the bottom of these objections."

The Chief Rabbinate has been preventing the reform, promoted by the Tzohar Modern Orthodox rabbinic organization, for years, fearing the freedom it offers will compromise halachic rulings.

Despite the chief rabbis' objections, the Knesset will have the final word on the matter. Deputy Religious Services Minister Eliyahu Ben Dahan (Habayit Hayehudi) told Army Radio that the reform would go through, regardless of whether the rabbis approved it.

"These are not the rabbis I wanted to see in office, unfortunately, but I will work with them. I can only assume that the chief rabbis of Israel know that once the Knesset passes a law they have to follow it," he said.