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Polygamy in Israel

FollowingHim

FollowingHim

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The Complete Jewish Home
A group of rabbis in Israel has an organisation promoting polygamy among the Jewish community. Any readers from Israel, or Jewish readers anywhere, may find this a useful resource. See also an English-language article about the organisation. The organisation's website is in Hebrew.

Although polygamy is illegal in Israel:
... a spokesperson for The Complete Jewish Home told Channel 10 that since the law banning multiple marriage for men was not enforced within Arab communities it was discriminatory against Jews.

“In practice the state allows polygamy within the Arab sector, and due to this their natural population growth is greater than that of Jews,” the spokesperson said.

“We are dealing with men and women who are responsible, and this is a solution to the problem of having more single women than men seeking marriage. It also ensures the Jewish demographic majority in the country, and guarantees the right of religious women to become mothers.”
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As the website is in Hebrew, here is a Google Translate automated translation of the site into English, if that is useful for anyone.
 
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Read the English article. Interesting comments after the article. Seems like many Jews (this section who responded) are in favor. I wonder if it is indicative of the population of Israel as a whole, or just the commenters section???
 
There is considerable debate among Jewish scholars over whether a ban exists at all, who it applies to, if it is time-bound or perpetual, if time-bound how long for, precisely when was it issued, and when does it end... So some certainly say the ban has expired while many others disagree. At the end of the day it doesn't matter anyway, as you point out! The things humans invent to worry about...
 
I have contacted the people at this organisation to find out a bit more and to let them know we exist. Key further points:
  • They are working on starting a dating website for women to date married men.
  • They are involved in a lot of political lobbying, and looking for donations to help fund this.
  • They would appreciate messages being sent to the "Ministry of Justice, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, Ministry of Religious Affairs and representatives of various political parties in Israel" to help encourage them that there is grass-roots support for this.
However it is difficult to accurately decipher the English of the person I have contacted, they either speak it poorly or are computer-translating from Hebrew. I think a native Hebrew speaker would be far better placed to talk to these people. If anyone speaks Hebrew and would like to be in contact with this group, there's a contact form on their website or I can give you an email address.
 
Just FYI- my comment on the institution of michvas as a replacement for animal sacrifice was in response to Jacob h's comment about the rabbinic ban on polygamy not being something in their power to do. Rabbis had no right to replace sacrifice either, but they did. The Almighty still requires sacrifice.

I veered off the topic later, so thanks for moving it, but I think this comment fits here???
 
Fair point, it was difficult to see where to cut the conversation as it gradually drifted away!
 
I have a habit of drifting...sorry:D
 
jacobhaivri said:
From what I recall, the Rabbinic ban on Polygyny expired already anyway. Regardless, I don't see that they had a right to ban one of God's institutions in the first place.
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Even during the ban polygamy was allowed for various reasons. You had to get a letter signed by 100 rabbis though for permission. I almost bought one of these on ebay from the 1800's America; thought it would be a neat historical document as part of the history of polygamy.

Any the ban was was only a ban for Azhkenazim (European, non-Spanish speaking Jews) by Rabbi Gershom and you're right it expired. It didn't affect Jews in Arabia, Africa, and other places. The problem is, traditions take hold and it's hard to reclaim what was lost.
To be fair the ban was done because the Gentiles were jealous of Jews living in Europe and it was a dangerous situation. Especially since Europeans back then had a habbit of slaughtering Jews for any reason that ticked them off; walking around with several wives just reminded the Gentiles that it had been too long since a good Jew killing had happened.

Rabbis have the right to enact bans in these situations; the concept is פקוח נפש, pikuach nefesh (a life risk), particularly a shomer shabbat life, is more important than almost any other concern. There are similar bans to women wearing too much jewelry so as not to make the Christians jealous or ... bad things happen. Jewelry and nice clothing in Europe was only permitted on Sabbath day to not make the Europeans jealous, and dangerous.

Similar restrictions exist for men not buying a suit that is too nice, shoes that are obviously expensive and Jewish men don't wear jewelry at all, not even wedding rings.
Other reasons have to do with עין הרע the evil eye, but that's a much deeper discussion...
 
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FollowingHim said:
The Complete Jewish Home
A group of rabbis in Israel has an organisation promoting polygamy among the Jewish community. Any readers from Israel, or Jewish readers anywhere, may find this a useful resource. See also an English-language article about the organisation. The organisation's website is in Hebrew.

Although polygamy is illegal in Israel:

As the website is in Hebrew, here is a Google Translate automated translation of the site into English, if that is useful for anyone.
Click to expand...
the situation is kind of tongue in cheek.
The Bedouins in the South for example have often more than one wife so the state gives them welfare, and the wives are listed as "extended family" since polygamy is illegal. The problem with the Bedouins is their polygamous practices are not biblical at all. Often the 1st wife gets abandoned and has to fend for herself; in addition it's hard for her to get her welfare from the state because it goes to the primary which is the husband. If the government would just legalize it and recognize it, then they could take better care of the citizens (in this case Bedouins).

BTW: several Yeminite families are polygamous (I mean Jews who come from the Yemen tradition), though this is dying out as the children are influenced by the secular state schooling.

Also, the last chief rabbi of Israel is vocal on the need to return to polygamy. Many Orthodox rabbis speak positively about polygamy and many orthodox women want it; so I think we may be just around the corner from this actually happening soon in Israel.
It's a culture war though since the government is secular and in many ways is emulating the US (Tel Aviv is the gay capital of the middle East) :(
 
Scripture says.. "You will know them by their fruits" is a fact. If public gay parades are ok, God's plural family is not. Then Sodom and Egypt were our lord was crucified is what that place is. What is saved is spiritual, born again Israel. We in Christ are spirutual Israel. The place called that is not born again Israel. People get confused. Heart circumcision is what counts. No sacred sperm or flesh.. Scriptures are clear.
They adversary marks his turf like a dog and even puts a 6 6 6 symbol on it. People still won't see it.
 
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