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After his highly publicized detention last week for officiating at unorthodox weddings, a prominent conservative rabbi in Israel says he's been inundated in recent days with demands from other young couples that 39 He also marries them.
"Eight couples have already approached and asked me to officiate at their wedding," Rabbi Dov Haiyun of the Moriah congregation in Haifa told Haaretz. "Usually, I do not get more than two requests a month, or at most one a week, I expect the numbers to continue to grow, and all I can say is Is that I should probably provide the rabbinate authorities here in Haifa with a bouquet of flowers for all the good publicity that they've given me. "
Last Thursday, Haiyun was arrested for questioning by Israeli police after a lawsuit was filed against him by the rabbinical court in Haifa for allegedly "marrying those who are not eligible to marry" . It was the first attempt to enforce a law pbaded in 2013 that bans Jewish marriages performed outside the rabbinate's framework and carries a two-year prison sentence.
The rabbinate later clarified that the bride was suspected of being a mamzer (a person born of a forbidden relationship and thus prevented from getting married, according to halakha Jewish religious law). Haiyun, however, said that he had already checked his situation and ruled out this possibility before marrying the couple.
At 5:30 AM, Haiyun was awakened and taken into custody for police interrogation, and released immediately afterwards. Subsequently, Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit ordered the police to suspend his investigation.
The interrogation of the rabbi, a few days before the Jewish fast of Tisha Be Av (commemorating the destruction of the two temples), was widely condemned, including in Orthodox circles. The aftermath of the incident have also been financial: In recent days, many Israelis have given small amounts of money to the conservative movement to show their support for Haiyun.
According to Yizhar Hess, executive director of the movement in Israel, thousands of shekels have so far been raised. On Monday, the movement responded to this wave of solidarity by launching an official fundraising campaign. A similar effort, said Hess, was initiated by his international sister organization, the World Masorti movement.
Meanwhile, Haiyun said that he planned to file an official complaint against the rabbinate in Haifa with the State Controller's Office.
"The rabbinate claimed that I was trying to avoid them, whereas in fact I have cbadettes that prove that I told them exactly when I was available to meet them ", he said. "In addition, they published the names and identification numbers of the couple I married, which is an outright invasion of privacy."
Haiyun receives legal representation from Rabbi Uri Regev, executive director of Hiddush, a non-profit organization that promotes religious freedom and Jewish pluralism in Israel.
Haiyun conducts a new list of religious pluralism that will take place during the Haifa municipal elections in October. "One of my main goals will be to change the composition of the religious council in the city, and it has been said that this is one of the reasons why the rabbinate decided to pursue me", he told Haaretz.
A long-time Labor Party member who describes his policy as "center-left", the rabbi adds that after gaining experience in city politics, he plans to introduce himself to the Knesset.
"I believe that the only way to really change things in this country is through politics," Haiyun said.
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