State Sen. Anthony Beilenson, Los Angeles Democrat, has introduced a bill in the California Legislature authorizing rabbis to perform weddings in the state.
The language of the present state law on religious weddings makes legal, technically, only weddings performed by “priests or ministers of the gospel. ” Sen. Beilenson said that the language makes weddings performed by rabbis questionable as to their legality because “priests and gospels” refer only to Christianity.
The Senator’s measure would add the word “rabbi” to the list of religious officials qualified to perform marriages in California. He said that the term was meant to cover Jewish clergymen regardless of the branch of Judaism they represent.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
