The Decalogue Society of Lawyers of Chicago said today a committee has been studying the facts in the controversy over the right of cantors to perform valid marriages in Illinois.
I. L. Karton, Society past president and committee chairman, said the committee has been hearing testimony from both rabbis and cantors. He said that after all information has been obtained, the committee will decide on whether to recommend that Illinois law be amended to include cantors as being entitled “to perform marriages as part of the Jewish tradition” or to make some other recommendation.
The society decided to embark on the study after Judge David A. Canel, ruling on a request in Chicago Superior Court for an annulment on grounds that cantors could not legally perform weddings in Illinois, refused the annulment and asked that a divorce be sought instead.
Judge Canel refused the annulment on grounds that “all such marriages” in Illinois would be “put in jeopardy” but he expressed a formal opinion that evidence at the annulment hearing indicated that cantors “do not comply with Illinois statutes as being able to perform wedding ceremonies.”
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