Fri., April 02, 2004 Nisan 11, 5764

According to the laws of Moses and Israel
By Yuval Yoaz

"I don't know if I'm married or not. I can't change my name in my identity card to my husband's," says R. in describing the bizarre situation in which she and her husband found themselves after the Chief Rabbinate informed them that they had been married by mistake, and is demanding they get a divorce. In order to force them to do so, the rabbinate refuses to issue the Zichron Yaakov couple a certificate of marriage. The couple, having exhausted all other avenues, yesterday appealed to the High Court of Justice.

The saga of R. and her husband. A is yet another instance of a couple falling between the cracks of religious law on the one hand, which according to Leviticus 21:14 prohibits a cohen (a man who is identified as a member of the priestly class) to marry a divorced woman, and civil law.

In November 2001, R. divorced her first husband. A. divorced his first wife in April 2002. Shortly thereafter the two met and decided to tie the knot. A. registered at the rabbinate in Zichron Yaakov and received the required certificate of bachelor status, and the couple was married by Rabbi Raphael Asoulin of the Chief Rabbinate in an Orthodox ceremony, "according to the law of Moses and Israel," as the ceremony states.

Ten days after the joyous occasion, after repeated requests by the couple to receive their certificate of marriage, they were called into the offices of the religious council in Pardes Hannah (responsible for issuing marriage certificates) and were told that a mistake had been made, that the rabbinate had not realized that A. was a cohen, of the priestly caste, who according to Jewish law cannot marry a divorcee.

A.'s last name is not Cohen nor any of the other names traditionally associated with the ancient biblical caste.

The solution of the religious council was for the couple to divorce, immediately. "Of course, we didn't agree. But they threatened us, and said if we didn't, they would see to it that our marriage was annuled in two days and they would sue us."

The couple's appeal to the Sephardi Chief Rabbi, Shlomo Amar, was answered some months later, in January 2004, with a letter from the legal adviser to the Chief Rabbinate, which stated that the couple's problem was "completely unclear, as according to Jewish law a priest and a divorced woman cannot marry." The letter makes no reference to the fact that the couple had already been married in an Orthodox ceremony by a rabbi sanctioned by the Chief Rabbinate. "The respondents are avoiding their obligation to provide a marriage certificate and inform the Population Registry of the couple's change in status," said Nicole Maor-Santer, attorney for the Israel Religious Action Center, who is representing the couple. "Avoiding doing so is a flagrant violation of law and administrative obligations." Maor-Santer also noted that refusal to recognize the couple's marriage is particularly serious due to the fact that the rabbinate is the sole body in Israel authorized to marry Jews.

The appeal also argues that the rabbinate cannot defend its actions on the basis of its prohibition of marriages between a priest and divorced woman; the High Court has ruled in the past that after such a marriage has taken place, it must be retroactively recognized. "We have a cloud hanging over our heads for no reason," said A. "The funny thing is that if we went to Cyprus now and got married in a civil ceremony, it won't solve the problem either because the rabbinate will not give up its demand that I get a divorce in Israel."