A survey conducted recently on behalf of Rosh Yehudi ("Jewish Head"), a Tel Aviv-based religious Zionist NGO that seeks to encourage spiritual growth, revealed further evidence of a growing trend – first reported on by Israel Hayom some weeks ago – whereby there are currently some 100,000 couples in Israel in which one of the partners is not Jewish. The survey, which attempted to examine the degree of affiliation to Jewish tradition among secular Israelis, found that just 29% of them insist on having a traditional Jewish wedding in accordance with Jewish law.
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While 29.3% responded that it was imperative for their children to get married according to Jewish tradition and law, 25.1% said they considered this issue important and 13.2% said it was only somewhat important. Meanwhile, 26.8% of those asked in the survey said it wasn't important to them for their children to get married in accordance with Jewish law and tradition, and 5.6% responded that they completely oppose traditional Jewish marriage based on Jewish law.
As for their own personal lives, 34% of those asked said the issue was imperative, 22.9% said it was important, 9.4% said it was only somewhat important, and 23.1% said it was not important to them at all; 10.6% said they don't want to get married at all in accordance with Jewish law.
With that, it appears some Jewish rituals are still vital for the average Israeli, even if he or she is not religious or ultra-Orthodox. Among the respondents, 47.8% said it was imperative to them for their children to receive circumcision and an additional 25% said they considered it important. Meanwhile, 8.4% said it was somewhat important for their children to be circumcised, 11.5% said it wasn't important to them, and 7.3% said they were opposed to circumcision.
Incidentally, 64% of the respondents said it was important for them to have a bar or bat mitzvah for their children, while 24% said doing so was imperative.
When it comes to burial ceremonies, too, it seems Jewish tradition was still a priority for many – 66.4% said it was important for them to hold a Jewish burial for a deceased family member, while just 16.8% said it was not important to them and a mere 3% said they object to it.
"As the survey indicates, a very large percentage of the secular-traditional public views upholding the Jewish covenant as imperative, and this is because maintaining this covenant has been ingrained in the Israeli national consciousness and is our identity," said Yisrael Zeira, chairman of Rosh Yehudi. "With that, the figures also show that the Jewish wedding has diminished, most likely due to the changes to familial and romantic lifestyle changes in recent years.
"We've been working for around 20 years to reach anyone who is interested in listening and getting closer (to Judaism), with the aim of deepening their Jewish identity, highlighting the family cell in Judaism, Jewish [romantic] relations, and the Jewish home. We operate from the heart of Tel Aviv and see the considerable thirst for Judaism, even in 'the' secular city," said Zeira.
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