Putting Freedom of Marriage on the Map
Hiddush recently launched the Freedom of Marriage World Map which emphasizes that Israel is the only Democracy in the world that severely restricts freedom of marriage, denies civil marriage, and discriminates against wide populations.
Did you know?
• Israeli law only recognizes religious wedding ceremonies conducted by state-recognized religious functionaries. There is no option for civil marriage or interfaith marriage in Israel.
• For the Jewish population, marriage in Israel is only allowed between two Jews whose validity is recognized by the Orthodox Chief Rabbinate. The marriage ceremony is strictly Orthodox and non-egalitarian. Members of other religions can only marry spouses of the same religion and only by their own State-recognized religious authorities.
• Over 300,000 Israeli citizens do not have an official religious status, meaning that 4% of the population is unable to legally get married (These are mostly new immigrants from the Former Soviet Union, who have paternal Jewish ancestry, but whose mothers are not Jewish).
• There are a significant number of Israeli citizens who are Jewish according to Orthodox standards, but cannot marry because of restrictions arising from Orthodox Jewish law. Also, all non-Orthodox converts and Jews converted through a moderate Orthodox rabbi cannot get married in Israel.
• The Orthodox monopoly over Jewish citizens (and respectively – the same is true for non-Jewish citizens in Israel) denies millions of secular, non-Orthodox and liberal Orthodox citizens the right to marry according to their belief.
Take part in bringing freedom of marriage to Israel. Write to Israel's policymakers and let them know that we cannot continue to ignore the Israeli public and World Jewry!