Progressive rabbi detained for performing marriage service to run for election

The Conservative rabbi who was taken in by Haifa police for questioning over performing an illegal marriage ceremony is running in the city’s municipal elections.

Rabbi Dov Haiyun will head the left-wing Meretz party’s electoral list in October, The Jerusalem Post reported. Meretz currently does not have any seats on the City Council.

Haiyun previously ran for the council on the list of the Equal Haifa coalition, which also did not win any seats in the last election.

The rabbi announced his decision in a Facebook post that said Meretz was“a natural home for me and together we will make a true difference.”

Last month, Haiyun was taken to a local police station by two officers at 5:30 a.m. for questioning after the Haifa Rabbinical Court filed a complaint against him for conducting a marriage ceremony in violation of state and religious law.

According to a 2013 law, it is illegal to perform a marriage ceremony in Israel outside of the Orthodox Chief Rabbinate.