In the wake of a report by Israel’s Channel 2 News last week, revealing specific actions by the Chief Rabbinate of Haifa which were intended to stymie efforts of young couples looking to marry through the Tzohar Rabbinical Organization, Tzohar has issued a call to police to launch a criminal investigation.
According to the report, more than 100 couples from the Haifa area who had registered with Tzohar rabbis to perform their marriages were sent notices by the Rabbinate that their requests had been denied for a variety of reasons, which Tzohar says “were proven to be completely false.” The reasons for denial of approval ranged from claiming that either the husband or wife was not Jewish, that they had been married before, or that they were conceived sinfully out of wedlock. In the Channel 2 report, senior officials from the Haifa Rabbinate admitted that the denials were not substantiated.
As is the accepted practice, the procedure is that while the Tzohar rabbis perform the actual marriage ceremony, including pre-wedding counseling, the couples are still required to furnish official registration from the local Rabbinate. Thousands of couples, many secular, choose to marry with Tzohar, citing a more compassionate and understanding approach to the marriage process over the more bureaucratic operation associated with the central rabbinical offices.
Rabbi David Stav, Founder and President of Tzohar, called on Israel Police Commissioner, the Attorney General and the State Prosecutor to launch a criminal investigation against the Haifa Rabbinate. In a letter released by Tzohar, Rabbi Stav said, “The actions by officials in the Rabbinate constitute serious transgressions of falsifying documents, misuse of a position of influence, fraud and breach of trust.”