marriage in Israel

The legs of bride Lin Dror (L) and groom Alon Marcus (R) are seen as they break two glasses concluding their Reform Jewish wedding ceremony held in front of the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on March 18, 2013, in protest of the Orthodox Rabbinate's monopoly on marriage licensing and the lack of civil marriages in Israel. (Flash 90)

July 1, 2018, 5:34 pm

Foreign Ministry says alternative marriage video was mistake

Last week’s clip celebrating non-Orthodox weddings, which are not recognized in Israel, has been panned by both liberal and religious critics

By TOI staff

May 25, 2018, 3:08 pm

Peter Buchsbaum

Marriage is a basic right, ’til the rabbis pull rank

A new bill aims to extend the reach of Israel’s Rabbinate, the very body creating the problems the law is supposed to fix

Noam Oren (L) and his wife on their wedding day on August 16, 2016. (Yarin Taranos/courtesy)

March 16, 2018, 7:53 am

Orthodox couple appeals to High Court after Rabbinate puts them in marital limbo

Noam Oren and his wife married in a religious ceremony, but authorities refuse to recognize it due to their insistence on protecting each other from potential divorce refusal

By Michael Bachner

A couple has their picture taken before their wedding at the Jaffa Port, as the Tel Aviv skyline is seen in the background. (Serge Attal/Flash90)

December 26, 2017, 7:00 pm

Orthodox group opens ‘alternative’ marriage service with Tel Aviv rabbinate

New Tzohar branch is liberal rabbinical organization’s first collaboration with state-run rabbinate

By JTA

September 25, 2017, 2:31 pm

Atara Newberger Zafir

My father the rabbi performed my wedding

If only the Israeli Chief Rabbinate understood that with great power comes the responsibility of great kindness

A woman praying during a Women of the Wall service at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Oct. 24, 2014. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

September 18, 2017, 6:31 pm

Worried about Jewish pluralism in Israel? So are Israelis, poll shows

65% of Israelis surveyed by liberal group by Hiddush want Reform and Conservative Judaism to have official standing equal to Orthodoxy

By Andrew Tobin

Rabbinical Courts Administration Director Shimon Yaakovi speaking during an interview in his office in Jerusalem, July 27, 2015. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90/via JTA)

September 17, 2017, 1:09 pm

Rabbinate expanding marriage blacklists for ‘questionable’ Jewish immigrants

Report says Israel is methodically blacklisting olim of Jewish heritage, who are subsequently unable to marry in the Jewish state

By Andrew Tobin

August 31, 2017, 10:38 pm

Messianic Israeli couple cannot marry in Jewish ceremony, rabbinical court rules

Couple say they believe in Jesus as the Messiah and that they work to spread the Gospel

By JTA

Journalist and author of 'The Unchosen,' Mya Guarnieri Jaradat. (Courtesy)

June 25, 2017, 11:35 am

A Jewish American who immigrated to Israel asks why refugees can’t

Journalist Mya Jaradat loved Hebrew so much she made aliyah — but now she’s gone back to the US and written a tell-all book about how Israel treats asylum seekers

By JP O’ Malley

Activists, among them Zionist Union MK Ksenia Svetlova (second from right), holding signs and wearing wedding veils as they protest for the right to civil marriage in front of the Knesset in Jeruslaem on November 2, 2016. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

April 5, 2017, 3:20 am

MK weds in Seychelles, slams lack of civil marriage in Israel

Zionist Union lawmaker Ksenia Svetlova gets hitched on Indian Ocean island, criticizes Rabbinate’s ‘monopoly on marriage’

By TOI staff

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men dance the traditional Mitzvah dance during the wedding of the grandson of head Rabbi of Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok with the daughter of the head rabbi of Beregsaz in Beit Shemesh on February 7, 2017. (Shlomi Cohen/Flash90)

February 16, 2017, 7:46 pm

Knesset weighs tax breaks for studious newlyweds

Legislation would provide income tax relief to couples who complete marriage preparation course

By Jacob Magid

A bride and groom in the center of Tel Aviv, November 4, 2015. (Flash 90/via JTA)

February 6, 2017, 3:10 pm

Citing intermarriage threat, Israeli rabbis ‘blacklist’ families deemed not Jewish

Activists claim the chief rabbinate is holding an ‘Inquisition’ as long-time immigrants to Israel are now under the Jewish identity lens

By Andrew Tobin

Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner dance at the Freedom Ball, in Washington, January 20, 2017. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

January 26, 2017, 12:12 pm

Is Ivanka Jewish? In Israel, she has a Trump card

Since Donald Trump’s election, Israel’s rabbinical establishment seems more eager to rethink restrictive conversion rules

By Daniel Estrin

August 18, 2016, 3:38 am

Young Israelis in no hurry to get married, new data shows

According to Central Bureau of statistics, percentage of single men and women aged 25-29 on the rise

By TOI staff

An illustrative photo of a bride and groom taking portraits prior to their wedding, in Tel Aviv, November 4, 2015. (Flash90)

August 17, 2016, 6:11 pm

Jerusalem rabbis: Limit grooms’ alimony vow to 1 million shekels

Rabbincal court’s quest to cap prenuptial pledges comes as another group tries to make it easier for women to get divorces

By JTA and TOI staff