Former Chief Rabbi: Orthodox Control Over Marriage Creates "Bastards," Religious Councils "Political and Corrupt"

Ellen Silman from Tsfat noticed this Yediot Achronot article and sent us an English-language synopsis:

Former [Sefardic] Chief Rabbi Bakshi Doron fires in all directions in an interview with the publication of the " Movement for Realistic Religious Zionism". Rabbi Doron comes out against Rabbanut marriage laws, dual positions for Sephardi and Ashlenazi Chief Rabbis and attacks National Religious party workers. He also claims that there is corruption in the religious councils.

He claims that marriage and divorce laws are not effective and lead to a hatred of Judaism. He claims that the thought that religious marriage laws prevent assimilation is an illusion. " The reality is that non-religious Jews who want to marry a non Jew ignore and by pass the law. To our dismay this law is one of the reasons for the claims of religious coercion. There is a large portion of the public that wants to get married and feels that this law stands in its way and they are correct".

As someone who sat in the Beit Din of the Rabbanut Rabbi Doron states that it is precisely this law that increases the number of mamzeirim in Israel. None of the Kibutznikim accept Jewish law in any event and it is this law that requires them to get married. A woman who has not married under Jewish law is still Jewish and her children are Jewish. Although this is not a good situation it is better than forcing her to be in a position of committing adultery and then she and her children are forbidden to marry. There is more than one or two such cases.

In summary Rabbi Doron claims that in the past this law helped preserve Judaism but now it forces people away from Judaism. People see that we need to preserve Judaism through political power and this is sad. No one forces anyone to have a Brit Milah yet in almost all cases it is done.

Rabbi Doron also comes out against dual positions for Sephardi and Ashkenazi Rabbis. This was a mistake right from the beginning he says. This duality is relevant only in the case of Rabbis of synagogues who lead a specific community and is not relevant for Cities or neighborhoods.

Regarding religious councils he states that everything is political and is based on the political power in a particular city. This has resulted in extensive corruption. He claims that 90% of the funding going to religious councils is being used to cover past debts and blames the National Religious party as well as Shas for this situation. The government provides sufficient funding to the religious councils but 80% goes to the political hacks of the National Religious party and Shas.

There are dozens of comments by readers to this article. Many express their thanks for his being so open and honest.

Comments

[Peter]

The translation downplays Rabbi Bakshi Doron's great concern about the integrity of conversions. “It is a mistake to think that being lenient about conversions that we will lessen the danger of assimilation,” he says. “Its exactly the opposite! There will be even worse assimilation.”
He also says that the marriage laws lead intermarried couples into fake and corrupt conversions in order to register their marriages.
I particularly liked this: In his opinion, it’s the State and the most extreme secularists who especially need this to be a Jewish country. “Therefore, we have to have mercy on them, and be patient and accomodate them wherever possible, since we are responsible for all of the Jewish people.”

Kol Hakavod to Rabbi Bakshi Doron !
This is in the best tradition of Sephardic rabbis.

[Treifalicious]

What is assimilation in Israel?

In Israel, assimilation means becoming part of a JEWISH culture. Not a non-Jewish one. The assimilation of gentiles into Israel works in our favor as Jews, not against it.

If you look at the children of foreign workers and non-Jewish Russian immigrants (who often think of themselves as Jewish anyway), one finds that the kids ask their parents why everyone else is celebrating and exchanging gifts on Rosh HaSHana and they aren't. It is the inverse of Jewish assimilatiomn in the Diaspora. The Israeli Rabbinate needs to remember where they are and what that means. Then maybe they will loosen up.

When I was in Israel, I was much more open to and confident about dating and the possibility of marrying a non-Jew (who would most likely be a Russian immigrant, and assuming they were not religious Christians), because in Israel, it is less of a threat to Jewish identity than to do the same thing here in the US.

Sooner or later, children of foreign workers or non-Jewish Russian immigrants often eventually end up on conversion classes anyway, at the very least in order to be like everyone else. Sounds familiar?

The only thing that might be a threat is dating or marying a Muslim.

[Garnel Ironheart]

Years and years ago, Yeshayahu Leibowitz said someting very similar but because of his philosophical and political positions, he was roundly criticized by the relgious community.
What happens to an non-religious Israeli couple that marries in Israel al pi halachah, makes yeridah to the US and then has a civil divorce? It sets up a situation for creating mamzerim. Had they undergone a civil marriage in Israel, this could be avoided.
The problem with the Chief Rabbinate is that it really represents no one. The Litvaks and Chasidim hold by their own leaders' opinions, as do most of the Dati Leumi. The Chilonim don't care what the Chief Rabbi rules on because it doesn't affect them.
The Rabbinate has to be restructured into the central authority of the Dati Leumi community. People who want a religious marriage can still have one but those for whom such things aren't important would then have a civil option which would cause far less problems later on.

[Yosef ben Mattityah]

The Rabbinate has to be restructured into the central authority of the Dati Leumi community. People who want a religious marriage can still have one but those for whom such things aren't important would then have a civil option which would cause far less problems later on.
trouble is ironheart, is that dati leumi is not really representative of the jewish faith. the state is a secular state. it better remains this way. we have enough problems as it is without adding false messianism to the equation

[Alex]

Legitamacy of the government comes from the people, and not from religion.

The rabbis in Israel do not seem to have that concept.

[Peter]

Treifalicious, you wouldn't believe a conversation I had last week with a Palestinian Christian contractor in the SF Bay Area. He was talking about all the Asian and other workers in Israel now, with many staying on after their work visas expire... There is good reason for concern.

[Dave]

It really makes me laugh when anyone of us Jews talks about the Mashiach, since we should come out and admit honestly that almost none of us believes that there will be a person-Mashiach, only that there will certainly be a Messianic era, when God wills it.This is attested to by the fact that all the people who have claimed (or others claimed) to be the Mashiach, including those claims up to the very recent past, have been rejected by us, and rightly so, since the risk of a person-Mashiach is a veering into idolatry.