The liberal Beit Hillel rabbinic group came out against a new initiative that seeks to marry Israelis outside the auspices of the Rabbinate.
Last week, the Hashgacha Pratit organization announced that they would start conducting private weddings in order to challenge the monopoly Israel's Rabbinate enjoys over marriages.
Many observers had assumed that the initiative, which is being headed by some of Israel's more prominent liberal rabbis, would earn the support of the Beit Hillel group. Many of their rabbis have been fierce critics of the Rabbinate over the years and had supported Hashgacha Pratit's efforts to offer private Kashrut supervision.
However, Beit Hillel said on Sunday that Hashgacha Pratit's efforts in the food industry should not be replicated in the marriage field. "The field of marriage and divorce is not similar to the field of kashrut. The halachic and social ramifications of national unity and the essential need for one central system," said Beit Hillel in a statement.
"We fear that splitting the marriage and divorce system in the country could cause cracks that would harm unity with Israel. Therefore, with all our appreciation to the leaders of private initiatives in the field of marriage that work for the sake of Heaven, the Beit Hillel organization opposes these moves and calls upon the general public not to marry without registering in the Rabbinate."
Hashgacha Pratit's new marriage campaign, which is scheduled to launch in time for Israel's late-July wedding season, is aimed primarily at immigrants from the former Soviet Union whose Judaism is often held in doubt, leading to their inability to marry inside Israel.