The Movement for Progressive Judaism has welcomed proposed changes to marriage law which could make it easier for mixed-faith couples to have a Jewish wedding.
A two-month consultation on the suggested reforms was launched this month by the Ministry of Justice – which has given assurances that the views of faith groups would be heard and reflected.
The Office of the Chief Rabbi, which authorises central Orthodox marriages, had been in touch with ministry officials and does not anticipate that the proposals would have a significant impact on communities under its umbrella.
MPJ co-leads Rabbis Charley Baginsky and Josh Levy commented: “Jewish weddings have always understood marriage as both a legal commitment and a deeply meaningful religious act.
“These proposals offer a real opportunity to make marriage law simpler and more inclusive, allowing couples – including mixed faith and LGBTQ+ couples within our Progressive Jewish communities – to marry in ways that better reflect their lives, beliefs and identities.”
They added: “This is still a consultation, not a change in the law. We have been talking to the Ministry of Justice for months in preparation for this and look forward to continuing to contribute our experience to the consultation as the detail is developed.”
Progressive rabbis are permitted by the movement to officiate when a Jew and a non-Jew marry, as long as the couple are committed to building a Jewish home.
But a mixed-faith couple currently cannot have a legally recognised Jewish marriage ceremony. This is because under the 1949 Marriage Act, a Jewish ceremony can only involve two persons of the Jewish faith.
While a mixed-faith couple can currently have blessings under a chupah, they still also require a civil ceremony for their marriage to be legal.
But under the proposed reforms, a Jewish ceremony in future could be legally valid for such a couple.
According to the Institute for Jewish Policy Research, since 2010, 34 per cent of UK Jews who have married have a non-Jewish spouse.
In its consultation document, Tying the Knot, the government says proposals would offer greater flexibility, including for mixed-faith couples who represent 21 per cent of all couples in the UK.
One key change would be to move away from licensing buildings that can hold weddings, which currently restricts the range of venues, to recognising officiants able to conduct them.
This change would not affect UK Jews, as under historic arrangements, they, like Quakers, can already hold marriages anywhere, including in private homes.
But at present, other religious groups, such as Muslims and Hindus, can only have legally recognised weddings in registered places of worship.
The reforms propose giving non-religious groups like Humanists the right to conduct weddings.
They also propose more flexibility in civil ceremonies, which generally must avoid religious content.
Instead, a couple would be able to include “elements such as breaking the glass or sharing wine” in a civil ceremony but they could “not recreate a full Jewish wedding ceremony, including the structured sequence of blessings or a rabbi-led service”.
A spokesperson for the Board of Deputies said it would be “studying closely the government's proposals for the reform of weddings law and consulting widely with partners to ensure the interests of our diverse community are safeguarded”.
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