LET MY PEOPLE WED Promoting Freedom To Marry in Israel iRep - JFNA’s Israel Religious Expression Platform Shira Ben Sasson Furstenberg October 2015

Public Support for Civil Marriage and/or Civil Unions Recently released polling data (September 2015) from Hiddush shows an interesting picture of public support for civil marriage or civil unions in Israel: 64% of Israelis favor recognizing all types of marriage, including civil, Reform and Conservative. 90% of secular Jews and immigrants expressed support for recognizing all types of marriage and the non-Haredi population was 69% in favor. Among the Zionist Orthodox, 78% were against and 22% were in favor.

Who are the couples choosing marriage alternatives? A slowly growing number of Israelis undergo marriage ceremonies independent of and unrecognized by the rabbinate. In practice, Israelis may hold any kind of unofficial ceremony that they want. Unlike non-Orthodox and civil weddings performed abroad, these weddings when conducted in Israel are not recognized or registered by Ministry of Interior. These weddings have yet to reach numbers sufficient to cause change or otherwise influence the status quo.

“Liberally-minded, Jewishly engaged” Israelis- weddings as a political / social statement. Couples who have strong roots in the Jewish experience of English-speaking countries. Couples who are associates with the ‘Jewish Renaissance’ movement. “The South Jerusalem Bubble". Approximately 1,500 of these weddings are performed per year

2. People who cannot marry through the Rabbinate About 8% of the Israeli population cannot marry their partner of choice in Israel (sexual orientation, not recognized as Jewish, or they are Cohanim. 318,500 Israelis (about 4% of the population) are identified by Israel’s population registry as having “no religion,” though they or their parents were eligible for immigration to Israel under the Law of Return.

3. Common Law Marriage and de facto Common Law Marriage A growing group of Israelis have decided that official marriage is unnecessary or too difficult to obtain and are living together without a formal marriage having taken place. In the last decade, the number of Jewish couples that live together unmarried has more than doubled from about 27,000 to 69,000 individuals. Today, 5% of Jewish Israeli couples live together unmarried. Legally, these couples enjoy nearly all of the rights afforded to officially married couples.

The Theory of Change all of the operational strategies are based on one of two premises: There is no freedom of choice in marriage in Israel because of the Orthodox monopoly on religious life, which is controlled by the political power wielded by the ultra-Orthodox parties and the status quo. There is no freedom of choice in marriage in Israel because the Israeli public (especially the non-religious public) accepts the Orthodox monopoly on religious and does not act effectively, neither on an individual nor on a collective basis, to effect change.

Political Advocacy Operating based on the first premise (Orthodox Monopoly), political advocacy organizations promote policy change in the realm of religion and state through legislative action- 1.Lobbing and Legislation. 2.Monitoring 3.Legal work in the courts

Public Education Operating based on the second premise, a number of organizations promote public education campaigns based on three approaches: 1.increase awareness about the ultra-Orthodox monopoly on religious services and the Rabbinate’s impact on Israelis’ lives. 2.build awareness about options for marriage outside of the official system, promoting opportunities for Jewish weddings outside of the rabbinate. 3.encourage Diaspora communities to apply pressure that can serve to influence Israeli decision makers

Action From a Community Perspective Orthodox initiatives Russian speaking Israelis The Aguna issue LGBTQ

The Diaspora Jewish connection The failure of Israel to provide civil marriage and recognize Jewish marriages performed under the auspices of rabbis from all streams of Judaism is alienating many Diaspora Jews. The absolute control over marriage ceded to the Chief Rabbinate has created an irreconcilable divide between the right to Israeli citizenship as guaranteed under the Law of Return and the right to enjoy the freedom of religion and conscience as guaranteed by the Declaration of Independence;

What can we do? 1.Talk about it- family, friends, Rabbis, leaders. (it really worked WOW) 2. Support organizations working to promote change.