Action is needed. Rationality must penetrate the religious strangle hold on purely civil affairs. Why Can't Israel join the 21st century in these matters as well as it has in tech matters?

We are not Goyim, Mr. Barak. We are Jews. And as such, we abide by Jewish Law and our true Jewish leadership, i.e. our Talmudic and Torah scholars. Mr. Barak's agenda is to deplete the State of Israel of Torah, Halacha, and G-dliness. Anything which could return the Jewish people in the Jewish Land back to its Jewish roots is an anathema for this man. He utterly fails to understand the simple concept that the Jewish people are a holy people unlike any other people, with a particularly unique relationship to the One G-d. The Land of Israel is the land of the Jew and of Torah. It is not meant to be a secular, anti-religious and universal country, as are those found in Christiandom. He has done his utmost to uproot Jewishness and Judaism from the Jews and from the public domain of Israel. He fights G-d by fighting His Torah. He will fail in the end, because G-d's Torah is, unlike Mr. Barak, eternal.

High court must serve israel not israel the high courtHigh court must let tsahal win against terrorists and not let soldiers to be killed just to serve the sense of justice of leftists judges

In a democracy what most people want is law in Israel what high court want is law.... Who has elected the high court ????

Haha, you think the people want religious-controlled marriage? You think religious coercion in the political sphere is democracy? Then you must also consider Iran a democracy - they also have voting mixed with religion...

There must be free and open access to alternatives. And Yes ! Israel is long overdo for a CONSTITUTION.

If Israel wants to be like other democracies it should have a representative government, whereby the legislators in the Knesset can be held accountable to the public that elected them. Alas, only the right wing in Israel supports this idea. The left supports the staus quo "Bolshevik democracy" as Perez calls it, that exists now. Furthermore, the Israeli Supreme Court justices should be approved by these elected officials and not appointed by other Supreme Court justices. An idea I imagine Barak would oppose.

Barak is mistaken for Jewish and Democratic values are contradictory. The source of Jewish values is mythologically divine, interpreted dictatorially by voodoo-like Rabbis. The source of Democratic values is the will of the people translated into laws, determined by the majority. and interpreted by the rationality of legal practitioners for better or for worse i accordance with their skills.

Yes we might be jewish but that also includes religious freedom, meaning th e right not to belive. It is ridiculous in this day and age that a couple has to go to the rabinnut and pretend to be virgins. People should have a choice and should not be bullied by the ultra orthodox who decide how we are born, how we marry and how we die. And one day like it or not buddy there will be recognised same sex unions. The times have changed

The religious and traditional Jews will be the majority.Gay marriage will never happen. Gays should stop aping heterosexual behavior anyway.

Barak needs to stop thinking that the Supreme Court can make the laws instead of interpreting the laws as they are passed by the Knesset.

Difficult for me . As a secular democrat , i prefer the civil wedding , and then , if the newly wed want it , they can have a religious chuppa . On the other hand , as a Jew , even as a secular , i can't accept it . What will we have in fine ? more and more mixed couples , reform "converts" , and a less and less Jewish Israel .

While I agree with [former Chief Justice of Israel’s Supreme Court Aharon] Barak’s assertion that “Civil marriage laws must be regulated in Israel. The control cannot be left in the hands of the religious alone”, I disagree that “we can conclude this with an agreement with the religious sector”. The religious sector has had a stranglehold on this particular aspect of people’s lives since the early 50s. Given this and their current triumphalist outlook, there’s no reason to assume they would be amenable to “conclude this with an agreement”. In a true democracy, freedom of choice in this – the most personal aspect of our lives – should be a given, not something subject to an agreement with a culture holding the opposite view. In this regard, Israel continues to position itself as a theocracy with elections rather than a democracy. I totally agree with Barak that “Israel is in need of a constitution”, but only provided that the constitution is written from the ground up to defend democratic values, and not to entrench the status quo. Altneuland http://blog.altneuland.info/