In the developed world, Israel is the only country without a civil option for regulating personal status. Determinants of changes in attitudes toward the introduction of the civil marriage in 1969–2009 among the Jewish population are the focus of this article. According to the Human Empowerment framework, the support for civil marriage should increase over time, and the younger generation should be more permissive than the older. However, despite growing support among all population groups, there is stagnation in the overall attitude due to changes in population composition. Being religious, the younger cohorts oppose the trend of permitting couples to marry any way they choose. Besides religiosity and traditionalism, this attitude can be predicted by national identity, education and being a 1990s immigrant from the former Soviet Union. The relative impact of the two demographic forces – the natural increase of the religious versus immigration – is analyzed. The article shows the relevance of internal and external national identity for the institution of civil marriage in Israel. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
AbudabbehN (2005) Arab families: An overview. In: McGoldrickMGiordanoJPearceJK(eds) Ethnicity and Family Therapy. New York: Guilford Press, pp. 423–436.
2.
AnsonJMeirA (1996) Religiosity, nationalism and fertility in Israel. European Journal of Population12(1): 1–25.
3.
ArianA (2005) Politics in Israel: The Second Republic. Washington, DC: CQ Press.
4.
ArianAPhilippovMKnafelmanA (2009) The 2009 Democracy Index: Auditing Israeli Democracy Twenty Years of Immigration from the Soviet Union. Jerusalem: The Guttman Center of the Israel Democracy Institute.
BarakA (2002) Some reflections on the Israeli legal system and its judiciary. Lecture delivered at the Fifth Conference of the Ius Commune Research School, Leuven, 23 November 2000. Electronic Journal of Comparative Law6(1). Available at: www.ejcl.org/61/art61-1.html (accessed 27 February 2011).
8.
BystrovE (2007) Israel bin ha-Olam ha-Mefutakh le-Olam ha-Mitpateakh [Israel between the Developing and the Developed Worlds]. Haifa: Chaikin Chair in Geostrategy, University of Haifa. (Hebrew)
9.
BystrovE (2012) The Second Demographic Transition in Israel: One for all?Demographic Research, 27: 261–298.
10.
BystrovESofferA (2012) Israel, Demography 2012–2030: On the Way to a Religious State. Haifa: Chaikin Chair in Geostrategy, University of Haifa.
11.
CohenARynholdJ (2005) Social covenants: The solution to the crisis of religion and state in Israel?Journal of Church and State47(4): 725–745.
12.
De BloisM (2010) Religious law versus secular law: The example of the get refusal in Dutch, English and Israeli law. Utrecht Law Review6(2): 93–114.
13.
DellaPergolaS (2009) Actual, intended, and appropriate family size among Jews in Israel. Contemporary Jewry29(2): 127–152.
14.
DovrinN (2006) Nisuim Shel Israelim Be-Chul Ve-Helkam Shel Olei Brit Ha-Muatsot Le-Sheavar Be-Tofaa [Marriages of Israelis abroad and the part of the immigrants from the Soviet Union in the phenomenon]. Megamot44(3): 477–506. (Hebrew)
15.
EmmonsS (1997) Russian Jewish immigration and its effect on the State of Israel. Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies5(1): 341–355.
16.
EnglardI (1987) Law and religion in Israel. The American Journal of Comparative Law35(1): 185–208.
17.
Fogiel-BijaouiS (2002) Familism, postmodernity and the state: The case of Israel. Journal of Israeli History21(1): 38–62.
18.
Fogiel-BijaouiS (2003) Why won’t there be civil marriage any time soon in Israel? Or: Personal law – The silenced issue of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women’s Studies and Gender Issues6(1): 28–34.
19.
FriedlanderD (2002) Fertility in Israel: Is the transition to replacement level in sight?Population Bulletin of the United Nations48/49: 403–410.
20.
FriedlanderDFeldmannC (1993) The modern shift to below-replacement fertility: Has Israel’s population joined the process?Population Studies47(2): 295–306.
21.
GalanterMKrishnanJ (2001) Personal law systems and religious conflict. In: LarsonGJ (ed.) Religion and Personal Law in Secular India: A Call to Judgment. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp. 270–300.
22.
GavisonR (2003) Democracy and Judaism: Between conceptual analysis and public discourse. In: DavidJE (ed.) The State of Israel: Between Judaism and Democracy. Jerusalem: The Israel Democracy Institute, pp. 331–359.
23.
GurovichNCohen-KastroE (2004) Ultra Orthodox Jews: Geographic distribution and demographic, social and economic characteristics of the Ultra-Orthodox Jews population in Israel: 1996–2001. Working Paper Series 5. Central Bureau of Statistics, Jerusalem. (Hebrew)
24.
InglehartRWelzelC (2005) Modernization, Cultural Change, and Democracy: The Human Development Sequence. New York: Cambridge University Press.
25.
InglehartRWelzelC (2010) Changing mass priorities: The link between modernization and democracy. Perspectives on Politics8(2): 551–566.
26.
Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (2007) Nisuim Shel Israelim Be-Hul [Marriages of Israelis abroad]. Available at: www.cbs.gov.il/publications/nisuim_hul/t05.pdf (accessed 23 March 2011). (Hebrew)
27.
Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (2009) Social Survey 2009. Jerusalem: Israel Social Data Center (ISDC), The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
28.
Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (2010a) Statistical Abstract of Israel 61. Jerusalem: Israel Central Bureau of Statistics.
29.
Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (2010b) Social Survey 2009: Jewish tradition observance and changes in religiosity of the Jewish population in Israel. Press release, 12 September 2010. Available at: www.cbs.gov.il (accessed 20 September 2010). (Hebrew)
30.
KatzR (2001) Effects of migration, ethnicity, and religiosity on cohabitation. Journal of Comparative Family Studies32(4): 587–599.
31.
Katz-GerroTRazSYaishM (2009) How do class, status, ethnicity and religiosity shape cultural omnivorousness in Israel?Journal of Cultural Economics33(1): 1–17.
32.
KhadduriM (1978) Marriage in Islamic Law: The modernist viewpoints. The American Journal of Comparative Law26(2): 213–218.
33.
KnafoASchwartzSH (2001) Value socialization in families of Israeli-born and Soviet-born adolescents in Israel. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology32(2): 213–228.
LazerwitzBTaboryE (2002) National religious context and familial religiosity within a Jewish framework. Review of Religious Research44(1): 22–37.
36.
LesthaegheRVan de KaaDJ (1986) Twee Demografische Transities? [Two demographic transitions?]. In: LesthaegheRVan de KaaDJ (eds) Bevolking: Groei en Krimp, Mens en Maatschappij. Deventer: Van Loghum-Slaterus, pp. 9–24. (Dutch)
37.
LevySLevinsohnHKatzE (1997) Beliefs, observances, and social interaction among Israeli Jews. In: LiebmanCSKatzE (eds) The Jewishness of Israelis: Responses to the Guttman Report. New York: SUNY Press.
38.
LevySLevinsohnHKatzE (2000) Emunot, Shmirat Masoret Ve-Arachim Shel Jehudim Be-Israel 2000 [Beliefs, Observances and Values among Israeli Jews 2000]. Jerusalem: The Guttman Center of the Israel Democracy Institute and AVI CHAI Foundation. (Hebrew)
39.
LiebmanCSDon-YehiyaE (1983) Civil Religion in Israel: Traditional Judaism and Political Culture in the Jewish State. Berkeley: University of California Press.
40.
LiebmanCSDon-YehiyaE (1984) Religion and Politics in Israel. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
41.
LifshitzS (2006) The Spousal Registry. Jerusalem: The Israel Democracy Institute. (Hebrew)
42.
MerinY (2004) The right to family life and civil marriage under international law and its implementation in the State of Israel. BEPress Legal Series, Working Paper 275. Available at: law.bepress.com/expresso/eps/275 (accessed 1 February 2011).
43.
NeubergerB (1999) Religion and state in Europe and Israel. Israel Affairs6(2): 65–84.
44.
PaltielASepulchreMKornilenkoIMaldonadoM (2012) Long-range population projections for Israel: 2009–2059. Technical Paper 27. Central Bureau of Statistics, Jerusalem. (Hebrew)
45.
PhilippovM (2007) 1990s immigrants from the FSU in Israeli elections 2006: The fulfillment of the political dreams of post-Soviet man? In: ArianAShamirM (eds) The Elections in Israel 2006. New York: SUNY Press, pp. 228–250.
46.
PhilippovMBystrovE (2011) All by myself? The paradox of citizenship among the FSU immigrants in Israel. In: Ben-PoratGTurnerBS (eds) The Contradictions of Israeli Citizenship: Land, Religion and State. Abingdon: Routledge
47.
PhilippovMSapirEVenturaR (2008) Jewish Identity in Russia and the Ukraine 2007: Analysis of Research Findings. Jerusalem: The Institute for Jewish Studies in the CIS and the Guttman Center of the Israel Democracy Institute.
48.
RemennickL (2007) Russian Jews on Three Continents. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
49.
SapirGStatmanD (2009) Religious marriage in a liberal state. Cardozo Law Review de Novo30(6): 2855–2880.
50.
ShamirMArianA (1999) Collective identity and electoral competition in Israel. American Political Science Review93(2): 265–277.
51.
ShamirMShamirJ (2008) What were the elections about, and why we should ask about it in election surveys. International Journal of Public Opinion Research20(2): 211–223.
52.
SmoohaS (2004) Jewish ethnicity in Israel: Symbolic or real? In: RebhunUWaxmanCI (eds) Jews in Israel: Contemporary Social and Cultural Patterns. Hanover, NH: Brandeis University Press.
53.
SmoohaS (2005) Is Israel western? In: Ben-RafaelESternbergY (eds) Comparing Modernities: Pluralism versus Homogeneity: Essays in Homage to Shmuel N. Eisenstadt. Leiden and Boston: Brill Academic Publishers, pp. 413–442.
54.
StierHLewin-EpsteinN (2000) Women’s part-time employment and gender inequality in the family. Journal of Family Issues21(3): 390–410.
55.
StrumP (1989) Women and the politics of religion in Israel. Human Rights Quarterly11(4): 483–503.
56.
WelzelCInglehartR (2008) The role of ordinary people in democratization. Journal of Democracy19(1): 126–140.
57.
WelzelCInglehartRKlingemannHD (2003) The theory of human development: A cross-cultural analysis. European Journal of Political Research42(3): 341–379.
58.
Yuchtman-Ya’arE (2002) Value priorities in Israeli society: An examination of Inglehart’s theory of modernization and cultural variation. Comparative Sociology1(3–4): 347–367.
59.
Yuval-DavisN (1980) The bearers of the collective: Women and religious legislation in Israel. Feminist Review4: 15–27.
