feature story
told The New York Times.

The innovation coincided with the onset of the
COVID-19 pandemic, and beginning later that year,
Israelis realized they could now get legally married
in Utah without having to leave Israel — in fact,
without having to leave their living rooms. Since 2020,
Davidson estimates that more than 1,000 Israelis have
taken advantage of the remote weddings. The fees for
the remote wedding total a maximum of $155.

“The technology now opens a window of opportunity
for thousands of Israeli couples every year to quickly,
simply, cheaply gain civil marriage without leaving their
homes,” said Rabbi Uri Regev, CEO of Hiddush, an
Israeli organization that advocates for religious plural-
ism. “That in and of itself is a real breakthrough.”
(Israelis aren’t the only foreign nationals to use the
county’s remote wedding option. It has also been a
boon for gay couples from China.)
How have Israeli officials responded?
They are not happy about it. The acting Israeli
interior minister, Michael Malchieli, is a member of
the haredi Orthodox Shas party, and had refused
to recognize the Utah marriage certifi cates, as did
a predecessor of his, arguing that the marriages
took place in Israel. A predecessor of his had also
refused to recognize the certifi cates, but last year, a
court ruled that the government must recognize the
Utah marriages.

That decision made its way to Israel’s Supreme
Court which, on March 7, ruled unanimously in favor of
the married couples. Henceforth, their marriages will
offi cially be seen as valid in Israel. The court made a
similar decision in 2006 that compelled the state to
recognize same-sex marriages performed abroad.

“It is the duty of the [Israeli] registrar to refrain from
making decisions regarding the validity or invalid-
ity of the marriages themselves,” the court wrote
in a summary of its decision. “When the registrar is
presented with a proper public document, he must, as
a rule, register it accordingly and refrain from making
decisions regarding complicated legal matters.”
How is this related to Israel’s
current crisis?
Israel is in the throes of a raucous national debate
over legislation being pushed by Netanyahu’s gov-
ernment that would eff ectively sap the Supreme
Court of much of its power. One bill would allow a
simple majority of Israeli lawmakers to override court
decisions, meaning they could negate decisions like
the one handed down this week.

Proponents of the court reform say the legislation
will allow Israeli law to more eff ectively represent the
will of the country’s right-wing majority. Another Shas
lawmaker, Moshe Arbel, cited the March 7 decision
as a reason why the court reform is urgent.

“The high court, in another political step, proved
once again how necessary the judicial reform is,”
Arbel said, according to the Israeli publication Ynet.

The decision, he said, works to “erase the Jewish
identity of the state.”
How do officials in Utah feel?
Initially, it seemed Davidson, the county clerk, might
do away with the virtual marriages. His campaign web-
site said that, “This online option devalues the union
of a marriage and Utah County should not be the
entity that facilitates the marginalization of marriage.”
But since taking offi ce, he said he has changed his
mind. His concern, he said, was that abusers could
take advantage of the virtual weddings to facilitate
underage marriage and human traffi cking. Now he
realizes that that has not been an issue, and he is
working on upgrading the county’s facial recognition
software to forestall that possibility.

“It doesn’t seem like there’s any controversial
marriages that want to happen in Israel, so I’m totally
open in keeping that open and alive,” he said. “We’re
trying to avoid any hint of child marriages or forced
marriages or traffi cking. We want to make sure that
we know who it is that’s getting married before we
perform the marriage online.”
Alex Shapiro, the executive director of the United
Jewish Federation of Utah, is likewise happy about
the Supreme Court decision. “[I] fully stand behind
the decision to make civil marriage available to all
citizens,” Shapiro said. “I’m further pleased that the
state of Utah can play a role in these unions without
the challenge of couples needing to travel out of the
county to be married.”
Davidson’s county, however, has few Jews and a
politically conservative population. It is the home of
the fl agship school of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, which opposes same-sex marriage.

Davidson, who is a member of the LDS church, said
that he has heard a few objections from residents
about facilitating same-sex marriages abroad. But he
told JTA that he feels the virtual marriages uphold
another core conservative tenet: limited government.

“Government restricts who can live where, in what
country, and I kind of feel the same thing about
marriage,” he said. “Why do I feel like I have the
power to prevent a couple — whether same-sex or
traditional — [from] being able to be happy with their
life, and do what they want? That’s kind of been a
guiding principle: Why should I have the power to
control the happiness of somebody else?” ■
Getty Images via JTA.org
A county in Utah allows
anyone in the world
to get a legal
marriage certifi cate.

18 MARCH 23, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT



Celebrate the festival of Passover
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