nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
JERUSALEM — When gymnast Artem Dolgopyat stepped off the podium as only the second Israeli to win an Olympic gold medal, he triggered one of Israel’s many cultural tripwires: It quickly emerged that the country’s newest sports hero is banned from marrying his fiancee here because he is not considered Jewish enough by the rabbis who control Israel’s marriage law.
Immediately after Dolgopyat took top honors in the men’s floor exercise, his mother took the chance to complain that Israeli religious law is keeping her engaged 24-year-old son from tying the knot because only his father’s side of the family is Jewish.
Marriage law is tightly controlled by Israel’s Chief Rabbinate. And for generations, couples who are of mixed religions, or who are atheists, gay or inadequately Jewish, have been forced to marry outside the country.
Dolgopyat’s training schedule has made that impossible, said his mother, Angela Bilan.
“I want grandchildren,” Bilan said Sunday in an interview with Israeli radio.
Dolgopyat himself told reporters he wanted to focus on his victory, not the controversy, leading some commentators to speculate that rushing to the altar is more his mother’s cause than his own.
His fiancee, Maria Seikovitch, said Monday that the couple became engaged last year, as she displayed her engagement ring to TV cameras.
Since her son’s Olympic triumph, Bilan’s maternal gold meddling has sparked a furor. Several top government officials pledged to seize the chance to break the rabbis’ longtime grip on marriage law and allow civil unions to be recognized for the first time. (Muslim and Christian Israelis also must be married within their religious institutions.)
“It’s intolerable that someone can fight on our behalf in the Olympics, represent us and win a gold medal and not be able to get married in Israel,” Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid told the Jerusalem Post.
But ultra-Orthodox political leaders warned against weakening the religious nature of the state.
“Winning a medal doesn’t make him Jewish,” Aryeh Deri of the religious Shas Party told the newspaper. “Our laws are consistent: For 73 years, marriage in this country has been run by Jewish law.”
The office of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who called Dolgopyat in Tokyo to congratulate him, declined to comment on the marriage dust-up.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2021/08/04/israeli-gymast-not-jewish-enough-to-marry/
Immediately after Dolgopyat took top honors in the men’s floor exercise, his mother took the chance to complain that Israeli religious law is keeping her engaged 24-year-old son from tying the knot because only his father’s side of the family is Jewish.
Marriage law is tightly controlled by Israel’s Chief Rabbinate. And for generations, couples who are of mixed religions, or who are atheists, gay or inadequately Jewish, have been forced to marry outside the country.
Dolgopyat’s training schedule has made that impossible, said his mother, Angela Bilan.
“I want grandchildren,” Bilan said Sunday in an interview with Israeli radio.
Dolgopyat himself told reporters he wanted to focus on his victory, not the controversy, leading some commentators to speculate that rushing to the altar is more his mother’s cause than his own.
His fiancee, Maria Seikovitch, said Monday that the couple became engaged last year, as she displayed her engagement ring to TV cameras.
Since her son’s Olympic triumph, Bilan’s maternal gold meddling has sparked a furor. Several top government officials pledged to seize the chance to break the rabbis’ longtime grip on marriage law and allow civil unions to be recognized for the first time. (Muslim and Christian Israelis also must be married within their religious institutions.)
“It’s intolerable that someone can fight on our behalf in the Olympics, represent us and win a gold medal and not be able to get married in Israel,” Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid told the Jerusalem Post.
But ultra-Orthodox political leaders warned against weakening the religious nature of the state.
“Winning a medal doesn’t make him Jewish,” Aryeh Deri of the religious Shas Party told the newspaper. “Our laws are consistent: For 73 years, marriage in this country has been run by Jewish law.”
The office of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who called Dolgopyat in Tokyo to congratulate him, declined to comment on the marriage dust-up.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2021/08/04/israeli-gymast-not-jewish-enough-to-marry/
