The Labor Party kibbutz movement has voted to support a bill in the Knesset which would allow civil marriages for persons whose marriage would be forbidden according to halacha. But the members of the Ichud Hakvutzot Vehakibbutzim also voted by a large majority to retain the ban on civil marriage in Israel for all other couples.
The resolution stressed that the support of civil marriage in special cases was a humanitarian gesture. On the other hand, it said, halachic marriage must be retained because religion is deeply rooted in the nation’s history. The principal reason for maintaining halachic marriages, however, is the fear that widespread civil marriage might result in an increase of mixed marriages leading to a decline of the Jewish population.
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