Olympic Gold Medal Rekindles Debate on Israeli Civil Marriages

By Ira Sharkansky

Ira Sharkansky

JERUSALEM — Artem Dolgopyat won a gold medal for Gymnastics, and became a national hero. Both the President and the Prime Minister telephoned their congratulations. Bibi also weighed in with a good word, but made an error of doing it on Shabbat. That got a bad reception from ultra-Orthodox Knesset Members.

Dolgopyat appeared on television as a modest individual, and refused to discuss his personal life. Also appearing was his proud father, and the young woman he has lived with for three years,  Maria Seikovitch

Both Dolgopyat and Seikovitch are Israeli, but neither is Jewish, according to the rules enforced by the Orthodox Rabbinate.

If faces would count, there’d be no doubt about Dolgopyat. He looks as much a Jew as any Yeshiva bocher.

But he cannot marry in Israel.

The fact has produced its own storm, not participated in by Dolgopyat, who has declined to discuss it.

According to Foreign Minister Yair Lapid,

We “will fight in every way possible so that there will be civil marriage. . .  It’s insufferable in my eyes that someone can stand on the podium, hear Hatikva, and get a gold medal in the name of Israel, and then not be able to wed here, . . . It’s a situation that cannot continue, and we will fight for change.”

Reform Jews consider Dolgopyat a Jew, insofar as his father is a Jew. But while there is one Reform Jew in the Knesset, there are 16 ultra-Orthodox Members affiliated with SHAS and United Torah Judaism, another 6 Orthodox associated with the Religious Zionists, and who knows how many other Knesset Members who are either religious and Orthodox, or not willing to do battle with the Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox over issues important to them.

Israel’s Law of Return provides for the immigration and Israeli citizenship of anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent. It’s brought tens of thousands, or perhaps hundreds of thousands of Jews from the former Soviet Union and elsewhere who are products of mixed marriages, along with their spouses and children. They are Israelis, serve in the military, speak Hebrew, and are as decent citizens as those recognized as Jews by the Rabbinate.

But they cannot marry in Israel.

Here the law allows only recognized Jews, Christians, and Muslims to marry one another by their religious authorities. And provides for conversion by those same religious authorities.

Others can travel overseas, arrange civil marriage, return to Israel and register as married in the Interior Ministry.

But if the wife is not a Jew, their children will not be recognized as Jews and must go through the same procedures in order to marry.

Reform Jews dominate the communities of Jews in the United States, but are a tiny minority in Israel. Here secular Jews may comprise 40 percent of the Jewish population. In the US, many of them would identify with Reform congregations, in order to maintain at least a semblance of a community. Here there is no need. The national holidays are Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Shavuot, Tisha B’Av, as well as Yom Atzmaot. The language is Hebrew and the identity is Jewish. But not necessarily religious.

The Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox dominate, and have created a legal system that recognizes only them. Occasional comments from their Knesset Members slur the beliefs and identities of the Reform and other non-Orthodox.

Does Yair Lapid have a chance of changing things? Probably not. He’s allied with Yamina, whose Prime Minister wears a kippah.

There are slivers of the Orthodox willing to accommodate themselves to others. Tzoharim (The Opened or Enlightened) Have worked to facilitate conversions within the framework of the army, and to facilitate the marriage of Jews that more conventional Orthodox might avoid.

But to be accepted as Jews, those individuals with a non-Jewish mother must be willing to undergo a period of training and to comply with those who are, at least nominally Orthodox.

There’s also been an accommodation of the Ethiopians. Kessim are their religious leaders, but are not fully accepted by the Rabbinate. And there is some dispute as to whether the Ethiopians are truly Jews, but that’s an issue that goes beyond this column.

In fact, there is a melange of many sectors of Judaism in Israel, including among the Orthodox. It shows up in the numerous bodies who’ve claimed responsibility, and money, for certifying factories and restaurants as Kosher.

Who is a Jew? Who is an Israeli?

The questions defy simple answers. And the country arranges accommodations for those who don’t fit. Marry overseas? Perhaps one day civil marriages in Israel. And register themselves as married? It may not fit a simple model. But it works.

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Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D.,  is professor emeritus of political science at Hebrew University.  He may be contacted via ira.sharkansky@sdjewishworld.com