Imagine that you’re about to get married to “the one,” making the wedding arrangements and getting excited about the big day. Out of the blue, a religious court summons you and insists that before you get married you must receive a “Get” (the Jewish divorce document) from your “ex.” Your “ex” to whom you were never married, and never much more than a friend. But he’s jealous of your new life and went to the court pleading for a Get. And now, you’re a divorced woman before you were even married.
In Israel, the religious authority (known as the Rabbinate in English, or “Rabanut” in Hebrew) makes a bit of a habit of granting divorces to couples that aren’t married by its own definition. It is, in fact, not only the norm, but the law. The more you explore the issue, the more unbelievable the stories become.
TLV1’s Laragh Widdess sits down with French-born Nathalie Lastreger, who started her life in Israel in the Orthodox community, but will soon be ordained as a Conservative rabbi. Nathalie’s story underlines the destructive nature of the Israeli Rabbinate’s monopoly on Jewish law in the Jewish state, and how women tend to be the losers. It has inspired her to lead a revolution.
Music:
Victoria Hanna – Twenty-two Letters
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach – Lecha Dodi
Thomas Newman – Revolutionary Road OST
Marina Maximilian – Ani Holechet
Written and produced by Laragh Widdess
A correction is in order. This might be misinterpreted: “… [O]nly marriages conducted or accepted by the Rabbinate, or ones conducted abroad, can be registered in Israel. A Conservative ceremony, however halakhic it may be, does not give a couple a certificate which they can register at the Ministry of Interior.” It would clearer and more accurate to say: “A Conservative ceremony **conducted in Eretz Yisrael**, however halakhic it may be….” A Conservative ceremony outside Eretz Yisrael earns a couple a civil marriage certificate, and that civil certificate will be recognized by Israel’s Interior Ministry.