Sad day for us

A nation and a religion what does this mean pragmatically. 42% of jews are secular chilonim but many still adhere in some way to yom kippur rosh hashana and shabbas as a day of non labor and pesach not to eat bread except the communists or the secular gevaltim .

And about time to ! Seperate state and religion. 60,000 have been denied the basic human right of being able to get married in the country in which they live and are forced to marry abroad. The very same people are considered jewish enough to serve in the army and die in the line of duty yet the rabbinute deny them the chance of getting married. The next step will be recognised partnership between same sex couple. Power to the People. Now the rabbinute will no longer have a monopoly over peoples lifes which naturally includes charging any price they like. which lets face it is the main reason they object. Those who want a jewish religious wedding will still be able to and have nothing to complain about Power to the people.

How very selfish of you, ever thought what it must be like to be one of the 60,000 ? Now they will be able to get married, dont they have rights to ?

what right do the religious have over other israelis its about time that israel frees itself from the religious parisites and their grasp on community. This is a great day for israelis and the first of many freedoms that need to be taken away from the rabinate committee and allow freedom of choice for any israeli without condemnation from the religious sector. No one tells them how to live why should they tell us how to live. secondly when they start going to the army and get off the welfare only then should they be given the choice or even a vote!!!

Dear MK Rotem, You're an idiot. This bill won't help people who made Aliyah that are deemed "Jewish" by the state and "not Jewish" by the Rabbanut. This DOES help non-Jews that are deemed "not Jewish" by the State of Israel. Jewish Israelis still cannot and will not be able to be married in a civil ceremony in Israel.

Hopefully civil marriage will be available for all sectors of the society soon!

A happy day ,also a good day for people with democratic ideals.

here we go with the howls of how this begins the end of the jewish state as we know it. in other words, if civil marriages happen here it's all over folks. there will be crosses on every house and pork chops on yom kippur. how absurd. either this state and people are not so fragile that civil marriage will undermine everything jewish, or if it is then it's never going to last whether this initiative passes or not.

After All the whole loyalty oath business is from the same political party. So how does one balance the requirement that a loyalty oath be said with the fact that the same people taking the oath are cleared for a non-religious court/wakf/church wedding? I can't really see how this helps Israel's Jewish character in fact I agree with TBer #1 it removes something fundamentally Jewish from the very heart of the Jewish state!

Civil marriage should be allowed even for Jewish Israelis (democratic country?). Going through marriages and divorces - and unfortunately, burials - in Israel, causes people to go against religion.

Or accept them as Jews and there wille be no problem. Or let them marry as non -jew !

A civil marriage is where 2 people can marry regardless of religion. Here a civil marriage is only when the 2 people have no recognized faith, 60,000 people out of more than 7.3 million or less than 1% of the population. This is not civil marriage and will not solve the problem of secular people who do not want to deal with the Chief Rabbinate..

civil marriage and Jewish and boys and girls living without a marriage contract? No difference whatsoever. For both, their children will be defined as children out of wedlock since their parents were not legally married to each other in a holy Jewish marriage union. Although their children will not be considered mamzerim, this law will cause children to suffer a social stigma and their parents to live lawlessly and illegitimately with other men and women, as many goyim do.

Why would anyone want to live in a country that they know does not allow them to marry? Israel is a Jewish state - and it has to remain that way. Religious weddings are beautiful - and preferable over a cold and cheap quick " I do"

Seculars: attempt to marry Orthodox but provide no papers. Rabbis will facilitate you marrying civilly. Religious: attempt to marry civilly. Rabbis will spot your names in register as being Jews and insist you marry Orthodox. Win-win.

There are many Jews in Israel who would prefer to marry out of the rabbi nate ( and not because they want to marry no n Jews, they marry Jews) but this law does not help them. And all the power is still in the hands of the rabbinate - who has to check you qualify? What if a Jew says he is a athiest and wants a non religious marriage? He is not allowed this new "civil marriage" No

to Israel! Now you can get married in Israel and don't have to leave the country. No more Rabbincal tyranny! Wonderful!

In order to have equal rights to civil marriage secular Jews would have to get rid of their registration as Jews. Maybe one would have to convert to Christianity for some time to get it done...

Quote: "...because it will allow thousands of Israeli citizens to marry in the country, whereas up until now non-Jewish citizens have had to travel abroad to wed. .." David Rotem knows very well that secular Israelis also travel to Cyprus to wed. You can't introduce a bill with different rights depending on the religion of citizens in an essentially secular state(admittedly Ben Gurion wasn't clear enough). Zionism is more than religious zionism.

for man, a giant step for non-Jewish Israelis!!! And, at least, it's in the right direction!

Jews have a undeniable bond with this, a Jewish country.

It's about time. Israeli women have to go through the MIKVA disgrace and many men had to show some pedophile "rabbi" that they are circumsized. What a shame.

what is allowed next, gay to be able to marry like in the usa?

When I saw the title of this article I wondered what are they talking about Does this open the can of worms the US has been fighting with GAY marriages??? Be careful Israel You go too far ....

why are the Haredim obsessing about civil marraige. In this case, it doesn't concern those whom the Orthodox even consider Jewish- so why should they care? Taking it a bit further, why should the Ortho Rabbinate care if secular, reform, or Conservative Jews do not want to be married in Haredi courts? They are not considered jewish enough anyway and haredim would NEVER allow their kids to mix- let alone marry, with non Haredim, so what is their problem? Answer: MONEY! As long as religion is part of the State, the Haredim are part of the State budget. Separate Religion from State ASAP!

that's my point.