An undesirable destination wedding

Hiddush analysis shows that Israelis are increasingly marrying abroad to avoid the Chief Rabbinate's monopoly

Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics recently published select data on marriages of Israelis in Israel and abroad. The Chief Rabbinate was quick to declare that the data proves that 96% of Israeli Jews marry through them. Hiddush's analysis of the data shows the full picture.

24/08/2014 14:43

Tags: freedom of marriage ·  civil marriage ·  chief rabbinate

''Putting Us All in One Box''--from the Campaign for Free Marriage in Israel

Hiddush has reviewed the data released by Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) and the Chief Rabbinate’s statements about Israeli marriage trends, and found that the reality is far from the Rabbinate’s glee over the report. Rather, the CBS report should be read as an urgent call to remove the Chief Rabbinate's control over all marriages of Jews in Israel.

This comes hand in hand with finally realizing the wish of most Israelis to see freedom of marriage in Israel, with equal legal recognition of non-Orthodox and civil alternatives to the Chief Rabbinate. Such a move would bring an end to Israel's lonely status as the only western democracy with severe restrictions on marriage.

More are fleeing from the monopoly

17% of marriage ceremonies involving Jews, and 20% of ceremonies involving Jews and Israelis of “No Religion”* (Defined as "Other" by the CBS) were held abroad. The number of Israeli couples that included one Jewish partner who married abroad rose by 5% in 2012. The number of Israeli couples consisting of two Jewish partners married in Israel declined by 2% in the same year. Moreover, CBS data provided elsewhere (but not mentioned in this report) demonstrates that cohabitation without marriage of Jewish couples in Israel (including couples with one Jewish partner) doubled between 2000 and 2012, from 27,000 couples to 65,000 (from 2.5% to 5%)!

Clearly, one of the reasons for this dramatic phenomenon is the desire of Jewish couples to avoid coming under the Chief Orthodox Rabbinate’s authority either in marriage or divorce, realizing that in the absence of civil divorce, even if they opt to marry civilly overseas, they still need to dissolve the marriage in the Rabbinic Courts in case of divorce. The Israeli public's opposition to the Chief Rabbinate's Orthodox monopoly on marriage, demonstrated by marrying abroad and by forgoing marriage altogether, is sharply increasing. At 62%, the overwhelming majority of Israeli Jews support freedom of marriage and equal recognition under Israeli law of both civil and non-Orthodox marriages.

In general, 37,751 Israeli Jewish couples married in 2012 in Israel. That is a 2% decline from 2011 (38,396). The Chief Rabbinate falsely claimed that 96% of Israeli Jews marry through them, or it may have simply misunderstood the CBS figures. 9,281 Israeli Jews, or 11% of Israeli Jewish individuals that registered in the Ministry of the Interior as married in 2012, married abroad. 89% married in Israel.

Israeli Jews that reported marriages from abroad

7,698 couples, in which at least one partner was registered as Jewish in the Israeli Population Registry, reported in 2012 that they married abroad. That is an increase of 5% since the previous year, 2011 (7,301).

This report should be read as an urgent call to remove the Chief Rabbinate's control over all marriages of Jews in Israel.

45,449 couples, in which at least one partner is registered as Jewish in the Population Registry, registered as married in Israel in 2012. 17% of the total number of those couples married abroad, compared to 16% in the previous year.

Israeli Jews and Israelis of “No Religion” that reported marriages abroad

9,220 couples in which one partner is registered as Jewish or of “No Religion” ("Other") in the Population Registry reported in 2012 that they married abroad. This is an increase of 5% compared to 8,753 couples in 2011.

In total, there were 46,971 couples, in which at least one partner is registered as Jewish or of “No Religion” in the Population Registry, that registered as married in Israel in 2012. 20% of the total number of those couples married abroad, compared to only 18% in 2011.

Segmentation of Jews that married abroad in 2012

The breakdown of the 7968 couples in which at least one partner was Jewish that married abroad is as such:

-Two Jewish Partners: 1583 couples (21%)

-Jewish and Arab: 16 couples

-Jewish and "Other" ("No Religion" mostly immigrants from the FSU): 1548 couples (20%)

-Jewish and not registered (religion is not known, in all likelihood- non-Jewish, non-Israeli spouses): 4551 couples (59%)

*Israeli of No Religion refers to Israeli citizens who do not have a registered religious identity. Most of the citizens who fit into this official category immigrated to Israel under the Law of Return from the Former Soviet Union, and are children or grandchildren of Jews but are not halachically recognized as Jews because their mother is not Jewish.