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Avoid hasty religious reform
Op-ed: Bennett's proposal to cancel regional division of marriage registration areas meant to grab headlines
People tend to think that religious services are provided only to the ultra-Orthodox community, but actually they are offered to each and every one of the State of Israel's citizens. Therefore, any problem that will be created as a result of hasty changes or reforms in Israel's religious services will be everyone's problem.
Any change must be implemented with caution and sensitivity, as the issue is both ideological and moral. It is not a budgetary or consumer-related matter, which can be amended or updated at any given moment.
Without getting into the problematic aspects of Religious Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett's proposal to cancel the regional division of marriage registration areas, any sensible person in the country realizes that marriage and divorce registration in the State of Israel is no less important than applying for a passport or identification card.
According to law, a resident can only apply for a passport in his or her hometown, and just as a Jerusalemite cannot apply for a passport in Tel Aviv, it makes no sense to allow couples to register to be married or divorced anywhere in the country.
The world of marriage and divorce is one of the most important aspects of our lives as Jews, and there is no room for pretentious reforms that are meant to grab headlines.
The fact that the government is introducing reform only in the religious field - accompanied by press conferences and headlines – proves that its goal is not to serve the public by reducing bureaucracy. Rather, it is a blatantly populist move, just like the demand to appoint women to the committee that chooses rabbinical judges when other committees are not asked to do the same.
