729 under 18 marriages were registered by the population authority in 2015. Most were Muslim marriages. The majority of such Jewish marriages (22) were registered by the Eidah Hachareidis in Yerushalayim.
Underage marriages are illegal in Israel unless a special license is granted. People involved in illegal underage marriages can face up to two years’ imprisonment. Despite this, the phenomenon is widespread among Muslims. Many marriages go unreported until the couples reach legal marriage age or have a child.
Government authorities do little to enforce the law even when cases are drawn to their attention. In 2012, for example, the police opened only one file after 90 cases of illegal marriages were brought to their attention.
“Most of these marriages conclude in violence and divorce,” Minister of Social Equality Gilah Gamliel of Likud claimed, noting that her mother married when she was sixteen. “Part of the problem is not the law but its enforcement. The statistics cry to the heavens. The law is a dead letter in the legislation.”
MK Uri Maklev of UTJ noted that there were exceptions, saying, “There are women who married at a young age and enjoyed great happiness and had many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”
David Steger – Matzav.com Israel
This is article is typical smear article. It wants us to think that HUNDREDS of religious Jews are breaking the law.
But let’s do the math alluded to in this article:
“729 under 18 marriages were registered by the population authority in 2015. Most were Muslim marriages. The majority of such Jewish marriages (22) were registered by the Eidah Hachareidis in Yerushalayim.”
So we have a total of 729 illegal marriages. “Most were Muslim marriages”. How much is most?
51% of 729 = 372. But were the illegal Muslim marriages only 51%? Let’s see what the numbers tell us.
“The majority of such Jewish marriages (22) were registered by the Eidah Hachareidis in Yerushalayim.”
So we now learn that the total number of Jewish marriages couldn’t have been more than 43 [22 (Eidah) + 21 (others)].
In sum, of the 729 illegal marriages, 686 were by Muslims vs. 43 by Jews.
43 is what percentage of 729? Answer: 5.8%. Big deal.
So we have the vast majority (94.2%) of the illegal marriages are by Muslims, yet for some reason it’s very important for us to discuss the minute fraction (5.8%) of the illegal marriages which are by Jews. Why?
Now let’s discuss how many secular people in the state of Israel, under the age of 18, are doing the unmentionable outside the framework of marriage? Where are the articles about that?
Kudos to those who choose to lead a life of Kedusha, and consecrate their marriages with Chupa and Kiddushin!
Let’s leave the Moslems aside, but we have to do more to make sure that Maklov’s vision of such happy marriages come true. All chassanim and kallos, regardless of age, must get hadrochoh to make such a life-changing adjustment. Newly – and oldly – marrieds should not feel uncomfortable getting “refresher courses” and even talking to experience, trained marriage counselors, to nip problems in the bud. We would save a lot of marriages, and much more misery, if we took this approach.
I understood that these are the #’s of LEGAL underage marriages – not includint yhe unregistered illegal ones.
Why the surprise? There are hundreds of 16 year old Kallahs