The Israel Supreme Court today ordered the Interior Ministry to register a Belgian Christian woman, who married an Israeli Jew in Cyprus, as married. But the majority abstained from ruling on whether the marriage itself was valid.
The Justices, in a four-to-one ruling, declared that the registrar was obliged to record facts as presented to him in documents in the case which arose from an appeal from an Interior Ministry action against Henriette Catherine Funck, who went with Israel Schlesinger to Cyprus to be wed. Israeli law does not recognize marriages of non-Jews to Jews.
The couple presented a certificate of civil wedding, along with a passport amended by the Belgian consul, in which the woman was listed as “Mrs. Schlesinger. ” The Ministry agreed to allow the woman permanent residence in Israel but refused to issue an identity card carrying anything other than her maiden name and her status as that of a spinster.
The ruling was expected to result in changes in scores of identity cards now held by Israelis under similar circumstances. Religious circles here indicated they would press for an amendment to the law upon which the Supreme Court decision was based. Such an amendment, which was proposed today by Hatzofeh, one of Israel’s religious dailies, would prevent persons from marrying abroad in order to circumvent the requirements of the State.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
