Orthodox couples opt for illegal halachic weddings
Dissatisfied by old school patriarchy, many modern religious couples are marrying outside the Israeli rabbinate
It t was a back-alley religious wedding. The bride, in her 30s, an Orthodox Russian-immigrant divorcée. The groom, a 40-something native Israeli. The wedding hall, a dingy, cramped three-room Jerusalem apartment.
They were married by an Orthodox rabbi, accompanied by a sliver of the groom’s large Yemenite family and a few friends. Blessings were recited under the huppah and, as in Yemenite custom, ash was sprinkled to symbolize the destruction of the Temple. A glass was broken. Burekas, Israeli .salads and pita followed in the first of the couple’s traditional Sheva Brachot meals
