Civil Marriage in Israel. For a large number of Israelis, religious politics and identity issues disrupt the pursuit of holy matrimony. Diana Mirtsin and Alexander Skudalo, Israeli citizens who immigrated from the former Soviet Union, live together, with their baby, in Tel Aviv. We Also Recommend Very much in love, they would like to marry--but they cannot make it official in Israel. This is because the Israeli rabbinate does not recognize Alexander as Jewish, because although his father is Jewish, his mother is not Jewish. Diana points out the irony in their frustrating family situation: “If there is a war tomorrow, he'll be Jewish enough to fight for Israel.
But he's not Jewish enough to marry here.” According to the country’s law, marriages in Israel are performed by sanctioned religious authorities--be they Muslim, Jewish, Druze, or Christian. Within Israel, only the Israeli rabbinate can marry Jewish couples. The Israeli rabbinate will also not perform marriages prohibited by Jewish law. Israel Civil Marriage Ban Blocks Those Not Considered Jewish From Wedding. By Linda Gradstein/The Media Line A month ago, Rita Margulis and her fiancé Amit (as a career army officer he asked not to use his last name) got married at the Safari in Tel Aviv.
There was a Reform rabbi and 450 guests. But according to the state of Israel, the wedding never happened. That is because Margulis, who immigrated to Israel from Ukraine at age 4, is not Jewish according to Jewish law, because her mother is not Jewish. Jewish law states that only someone born of a Jewish mother or who had an Orthodox Jewish conversion is Jewish. And since there is no civil marriage in Israel, anyone who is not Jewish cannot marry another Jew in Israel. Until her wedding, Margulis says it didn’t bother her much.
“Getting married is a basic right that every citizen should have,” she told The Media Line. Israel is both a Jewish and democratic state. Thousands of couples have taken advantage of a loophole in the law, in which they fly abroad, often to Cyprus, and have a wedding there. If Americans Knew - what every American needs to know about Israel/Palestine. Jewish Voice for Peace. Badil.org. Theparentscircle.com. Combatants For Peace. The Electronic Intifada. Palestine Remembered, al-Nakba 1948- פלשתינה-فلسطين في الذاكرة.