“חתונה לכל דבר ועניין”: לגיטימציה חברתית לנישואין מחוץ לרבנות בישראל

In this article we examine how Israeli Jews, who choose to marry in private ceremonies outside the state-authorized rabbinical establishment,construe their weddings as socially legitimate. The social legitimation of these weddings is important because they lack legal legitimation and,in some cases – are legally prohibited. The article is based on semi-structured in-depth interviews with forty Israeli Jewish couples and analyzes the findings using a sociological model explaining how social and organizational phenomena become socially legitimate.The couples interviewed described how their weddings were perceived as socially legitimate by their immediate social circles, as well as within broader contexts. Contrary to our expectations, most of these couples did not seek formal and/or legal recognition. We argue that these couples do not feel that they need to formally validate their status as married precisely because they experience their weddings as legitimate and due to the wide recognition in Israel of de-facto unions.Our study expands the sociological discussion of social legitimation processes, in which legal legitimation and social legitimation are considered inseparable. We show that social phenomena that are not legally recognized, and that may even be illegal, can become socially legitimate. Furthermore, this study sheds new light on marriage equality struggles. While struggles for equal rights in marriage in North America and in Europe have focused on legal recognition, our study indicates that in marriages outside the state rabbinate in Israel, social legitimacy is considered more valuable than legal legitimacy. Future research will examine the social, legal, and gender implications of this reconfiguration of the social conventions concerning marriage, which takes place at the heart of the social mainstream of Jewish society in Israel.