Wedding Room - Please Wait

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Every year over 5,000 Israeli couples fly to the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, just a 55 minute plane trip to validate their relationship with a civil marriage ceremony. In Israel, the ultra-Orthodox rabbinical authorities exercise State-sanctioned control over family law and Jewish life cycle events; the only legal conversions, marriages, and divorces for Jewish citizens are those conducted by the Orthodox Rabbinate so many Israeli couples prefer or are forced to perform a civil marriage overseas and Cyprus is popular because of its proximity (full article available on request). All photos by Rafael Ben-Ari/Chameleons Eye.

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