A growing number of Jews are marrying in Israel outside the Chief Rabbinate, according to a soon-to-be-published study conducted by the pluralistic “Panim – the Israeli Judaism Network.”
According to the study based on searching out and interviewing relevant couples, at least 2,434 Jewish non-rabbinate marriage ceremonies were held in Israel in 2017 – 8% more than the previous year.
The ceremonies were conducted by clergy of all Jewish streams with 150 weddings performed by 14 Orthodox rabbis last year.
Israeli couples marrying outside the Rabbinate are increasingly opting to have their weddings in Israel rather than overseas, according to the group that made the survey.
55% of the illegally wed were secular Jews who oppose the Rabbinate on principle, a third were Russian speakers who cannot marry in Israel as they are not Jewish and 12% were halachically forbidden to wed.
The Religious Services Ministry reported that 36,205 Jewish couples married through the Rabbinate in 2017, a 4 percent drop from the previous year.
{Matzav.com Israel News Bureau}
