Stas Granin (28) and Yulia Tagil (29) got married today, On Erev Tu Be’av, in an alternative urban wedding and invited the whole city of Tel Aviv to celebrater their love with them. It was AWESOME. Mazal tov!
The wedding showcased an alternative Jewish wedding for couples who either cannot marry through the rabbinute, or choose not to. Stas and Yulia are both immigrants from the former Soviet Union who arrived in Israel in the 1990s. They are two of more than 300,000 Israelis, most of them immigrants from the former Soviet Union, who cannot have a wedding ceremony in Israel,which is recognized by the State. These newcomers cannot prove they are Jewish to the Orthodox rabbinate, or are only Jewish on their father’s side and therefore not considered halachically Jewish.
“We are Jewish enough to serve in the army, pay taxes, and fulfil our civil obligations but we are not Jewish enough to get married here. Bureaucracy takes away all the romantic motivation to get married”, they told the press.
