Avi Weiss Letter Vouching for American Couple Dismissed By Chief Rabbinate

Marriage Madness: Orthodox rabbis have the final say on how all Jews get married and divorced in Israel. Image by Getty Images
The Chief Rabbinate of Israel rejected a letter vouching for the Jewishness of an American couple marrying in Israel written by well-known Orthodox Rabbi Avi Weiss, as well as at least 10 rabbis in other cases, The New York Jewish Week reported.
Weiss, the longtime spiritual leader of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in New York City, told The Jewish Week that he believes his rejection was political — related to his involvement in Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, a liberal Orthodox rabbinical school he founded and led, and Yeshivat Maharat, a seminary for Modern Orthodox women.
The Chief Rabbinate previously had accepted “countless” similar letters from Weiss, the rabbi told the newspaper. Other rabbis said they were outraged by the rejection of their letters but declined to be interviewed by the newspaper. The rejections occurred over about six months.
A letter vouching for a couple’s Jewishness and singlehood has been required for decades from every couple wishing to marry in Israel.
The Chief Rabbinate decided several years ago that it would no longer automatically recognize conversions performed by Orthodox rabbis in the Diaspora, and agreed to accept those of a limited number of approved rabbinical courts, or batei din. It is believed that the Jewishness of Jews by birth in the Diaspora wishing to be married in Israel also will now require a beit din, even though, Rabbi Seth Farber of the ITIM organization noted, “Throughout Jewish history, local community rabbis have always been trusted to certify the status of their community members.”
“The rabbinate is heading in the direction where they will no longer accept any community rabbi,” Farber told The Jewish Week, “and will instead insist on rabbinical courts certifying someone’s Jewishness, a situation that is completely unmanageable in North America.”
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 2
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
In Case You Missed It
-
News Rabbis revolt over LGBTQ club, exposing fight over queer acceptance at Yeshiva University
-
Opinion In Qatargate fiasco, Netanyahu’s ‘witch hunt’ narrative takes cues from Trump
-
Yiddish די הגדה ווי אַ לעבעדיקער דענקמאָל פֿון אַשכּנזישער פּאָעזיעThe Haggadah as a living monument to Ashkenazi poetry
אַמאָל זענען די פּייטנים, מיסטישע דיכטער־וויזיאָנערן, געווען אויבן־אָן בײַ די פֿראַנצויזישע און דײַטשישע ייִדן.
-
Opinion Marine Le Pen may be headed to prison — antisemitism and xenophobia still roam freely
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.