Jewish marriage on the wane in the Jewish state ahead of Tu B'Av
Critics blame Chief Rabbinate, lack of marriage choice, for the decline in the number of Jews marrying in Israel, and increase in cohabitation.
By JEREMY SHARONHANANEL EVEN HEN and Shiran Habush celebrate during their corona-era wedding at an Efrat public park on March 15. Jerusalem and its destruction have been remembered at weddings by Jews throughout the world for 2,000 years(photo credit: GERSHON ELINSON/FLASH90)
The number of marriages conducted through the Chief Rabbinate continues to fall, as does the actual rate of marriage among the Jewish population, despite the expanding size of that Jewish population, figures released by the Central Bureau of Statistics ahead of the Tu Be’av minor Jewish holiday have revealed.Critics of the Chief Rabbinate ascribed the decreases, which reflect a trend of over a decade, to the organization’s stringent approach to all aspects of marriage registration and the wedding ceremony itself.All marriages in Israel must be conducted in the established religious institutions, although civil marriages performed abroad are recognized by the state.According to the new statistics, there were 34,473 Jewish weddings carried out by the Chief Rabbinate in 2018, down from 39,446 in 2013, a decrease of 12% in five years.Additionally, the rate of marriage in 2018 among the Jewish population was 5.2 marriage registrations per 1,000 Jewish citizens, compared to 6.8 per thousand Jewish citizens 10 years earlier in 2008, a sharp decrease of 23% over a decade.There has also been a sharp increase in the numbers of Israeli couples not marrying at all but instead living together, cohabiting, in common law marriages.In 2008, the rate of common law unions in the Jewish community was 4 per 1,000 citizens, which rose to 6.3 in 1,000 in 2018, the CBS report said, an increase of 58% over a decade.The number of Israelis marrying abroad is also increasing, with 8,939 couples marrying abroad in 2013 compared to 9,021 couples in 2018, an increase of 0.9%.In 2013, 1,546 of the couples who married abroad comprised two Jewish spouses, compared with 1,989 in 2018, an increase of 29%.Another phenomenon that has expanded in recent years is that of non-state, private marriages conducted by various organizations in Israel outside of the Chief Rabbinate.Organizations conducting such marriages include the Havaya program of the secularist Israel Be Free group, the Reform and Masorti (Conservative) movements, and the Chupot organization, which conducts weddings in accordance with Orthodox Jewish law for both secular and religious couples.According to the Panim organization, there were 2,434 private marriages in 2017, which was an 8% increase over the 2016 figure.Director of the religious pluralism organization Hiddush, Rabbi Uri Regev, said that “ironically” the new figures demonstrated that the Chief Rabbinate was causing a reduction in the number of Jewish marriages in Israel and was “undermining the institution of family in the Jewish community,” through its policies.Regev said that if politicians wanted to “truly represent the public, you would legislate for free choice in marriage now.”The Ne’emanei Torah Va’Avodah religious-Zionist organization said the state was forcing couples to either marry abroad or not marry at all, due to the absence of legal recognition for marriages in Israel outside of the Chief Rabbinate.“The lack of choice is bringing about loathing for the institution of Jewish marriage,” said the group, saying that legislating for marriage alternatives outside of the Chief Rabbinate would strengthen the idea of marriage in general.
