Tel-Chai Nation

An abominable case occurred where police brought in a Conservative rabbi for questioning, all over petty issues by a Haredi-run religious court that appears to despise his beliefs:

A Conservative rabbi was hauled in for police questioning on Thursday morning for officiating at private weddings outside the state-run Chief Rabbinate. Rabbi Dov Haiyun was released after several hours of questioning.

Following a swift public and political firestorm over the arrest, the Haifa District Police said that Hayuin was not required to return to the station for further interrogation on Monday, after he had agreed to do so voluntarily.

Haiyun heads the Conservative community in Haifa and has been officiating at non-Orthodox weddings in Israel for decades.

He was questioned on suspicion of an offense under Article 7 of the Marriage and Divorce Ordinance, which prohibits private marriage and divorce, and establishes a two-year prison term for marriage or divorce without registration.

He was detained following a complaint by the Haifa Rabbinical Court, according to a spokesperson for the Masorti Movement in Israel.

"It's very unpleasant to be dragged out of bed for interrogation for the sin of carrying out weddings in accordance with the laws of Moses and Israel. I am not an offender, not a murderer, not a criminal. I was shocked," he told the Kan Public Broadcasting Corporation.

"It is hard for me to think of a less Jewish act on the eve of Tisha B'Av. The police were dragged in to serve as a tool for the Orthodox rabbinical court. It is a sad day for democracy in Israel," he added.

In a statement, the rabbinical court's spokesperson accused Haiyun of performing a wedding of a Jew born of an extramarital affair, known as a "mamzer" (bastard).

From what's been reported, this wasn't true, but even if it was, it's offensive to act as though being born out of an extramarital affair somehow makes the man or woman an anthrax-laden abomination. This is a most horrific example of determining that the sins of the parent fall upon the child in every way, and those court officials who believe and uphold it should be ashamed of themselves. If I were born of adultery, does that mean I would be considered a filthy POS and systematically forbidden to prove otherwise? In the eyes of such disgusting excuses for "lawmakers", I apparently would be, and for that, they owe an apology for legitimizing a poor vision that hurts innocent people.

Here's another report stating:

Israel’s attorney general has since ordered police to stop investigating Haiyun, a Conservative rabbi in his northern city. But news of the incident, which has spread quickly across Israel and to Jews worldwide, has highlighted an obscure law threatening non-Orthodox rabbis with arrest. And it has ignited a wave of protest in Israel and abroad against the Orthodox monopoly over Jewish practice there.

[...] According to the law, rabbis that perform any non-sanctioned weddings in Israel could also be subject to prosecution — so can the bride and groom. When the measure was passed in 2013, a Chief Rabbinate spokesman told JTA that non-Orthodox weddings would only run afoul of the law if they were performed using traditional Jewish rites. Haiyun uses a traditional Jewish ceremony in his weddings, so a religious court in Haifa invoked the law and ordered the police to interrogate him.

(Earlier reports that one of the partners in the marriage was a “mamzer” — an individual who was born out of a woman’s extramarital affair and whose ability to marry within Jewish law is highly restricted — appear to be inaccurate.)

Before this week, the law was never enforced. So though secular Israelis have long chafed at their inability to marry whomever they wanted or how they wanted, the law had not become a centerpiece of protests against the Chief Rabbinate. Campaigns have focused more on instituting civil marriage in Israel or on increased rights for LGBT Israelis.

It's regrettable that, until now, nobody had focused on the damaging effects it has, including foreign reputation. Such practice can make people abroad think the lawmakers in Israel are petty and potentially dictatorial, and worst, it gives anti-semites ammunition to use against Israel. Based on the apparent lack of concern the Haredis must have, it's clear they probably want that to happen.

Furthermore, it's also offensive to the bride and groom to spoil their wedding by declaring them criminals, and it goes without saying that such conduct has practically given LGBT advocates a weapon to use against Orthodox Judaists.

Since we're on the subject, Emily Amrousi argued:

The police should not have taken Haiyun for questioning and they should not have shown up at his doorstep at that early hour. Nevertheless, according to the rabbinical courts, Haiyun conducted a marriage ceremony between a couple deemed by the rabbinate as forbidden to marry according to religious law, a criminal offense. This is a serious problem and it makes people suspicious of the Conservative movement: If this is indeed the case, our children will not able to marry the children of couples who married in these alternative ceremonies.

[...]The law may be terrible, and it may be archaic, but it can be amended. Breaking the law does not help anyone.

Yes, so the law should be amended, and maybe the rabbis should've protested and done everything they could to protest it as it stands. But if she's implying the sins of the parents should be visited without question on the child, that's wrong and horrific. How you were born, whether inside/outside marriage, should not be considered a precondition to whether you can marry.

Yehuda Schlesinger says religion and state should be parted from each other:

Long before the transgression of Rabbi Dov Haiyun, who married people to whom marriage was forbidden under Jewish law, there was another transgression – a moral one. It's called the connection between religion and state. The regulator interfered where he had no business to do so – a person's faith. Bringing regulation into Jewish tradition and making it into law is one of the worst things that can happen to tradition.

[...] Jewish tradition plays an active role in shaping the Jewish people. It is family meals on Passover eve, celebrating Hanukkah with the children, and a sense of introspection and forgiveness on Yom Kippur. A Jewish wedding is part of that tradition. Those who love tradition and connect to it can connect, and it is the right of those who don't to opt for alternative ceremonies. Jewish tradition is a privilege, not an obligation. Anyone who wants to contribute to it should take care to remove it from the laws of the country. Separate religion and state! People need to choose for themselves how to mark their lifelong partnerships. Education and choice determine whether Jewish tradition will be a part of that. It certainly can't be up to someone being detained by the police.

Well I'm glad somebody's making a call for modifying laws so it'll be closer to the USA approach. It goes without saying that those who believe marriage should be regulated despise America's legal system, and the Haredis undoubtably do it under the full confidence that nobody sensible in America dare speak out for fear of being labeled an anti-semite. Which only makes their exploitation all the more offensive, and demonstrates why, not only is their education very poor, they're not qualified to take role of judge nor jury.

Labels: haredi corruption, Israel, Judaism, Knesset, Moonbattery, political corruption