Over a month after the general elections, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, the spiritual leader of the Lithuanian stream of ultra-Orthodox Judaism, ruled on the hot topic of the coalition negotiations – civil marriage.
According to Rabbi Elyashiv, the Halacha allows instituting civil marriage in Israel for non-Jews only. Therefore, any couple wishing to wed through civil marriage will have to prove to a rabbinical court that both partners are not Jewish, this in order to prevent "legally sanctioned" assimilation.
The rabbi stressed that civil marriage between Jews, or a mixed couples, was out of the question.
The United Torah Judaism coalition negotiations team is expected to present this as a major demand to the Likud.
The ruling was also authorized by the Gerrer Rebbe and Rabbi Aharon Leib Steinman.
Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar has recently reached a compromise with the Yisrael Beiteinu party, according to which non-Jews will be allowed to hold civil marriage. However, the chief rabbi did not condition this on a rabbinical court approval.