The government has presented its arguments to the Supreme Court against an appeal by the Movement for Progressive Judaism in Israel (Reform) to permit its rabbis to perform marriages, a function allowed only Orthodox rabbis since the State was founded. According to the government, Reform rabbis do not meet the requirements to be recognized as rabbis according to religious law. This has always been the Orthodox point of view. The government contended further that the real goal of the Reform group is to create a separate religious authority in Israel which would perform marriages and divorces according to laws other than “Torah laws.”
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