Chuck Davidson (; March 17, 1961) is an American Orthodox

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

who made Aliya to

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. His willingness to challenge the religious establishment of the

Israeli Chief Rabbinate The Chief Rabbinate of Israel (, ''Ha-Rabbanut Ha-Rashit Li-Yisra'el'') is recognized by law as the supreme rabbinic authority for Judaism in Israel. It was established in 1921 under the British Mandate, and today operates on the basis of the ...

, specifically in the realms of

marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

and

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, has been controversial.

Marriages

Davidson is one of the few Orthodox rabbis in Israel willing to marry people outside of the Rabbinate. According to Israeli law,

that conform to religious standards but are conducted outside of the official religious institutions is punishable with up to two years in jail, for both the couple and the officiating clergy. Davidson has publicly conducted over 170 marriages outside of the Rabbinate, and in doing so, has openly challenged the state to jail him. The state has not followed through, even though Davidson has claimed that his ultimate goal in conducting these marriages is to get arrested. Davidson believes the law to be problematic and is confident the courts will strike the law down, however if they do not he is willing to sit in jail as a political prisoner. Davidson is currently serving as head of Chuppot, the wedding division of Hashgacha Pratit, a Jerusalem organization which challenges the monopoly of the Rabbinate. The organization has performed hundreds of marriages around the country, despite the dangers of being jailed by the state.

Conversions

Davidson helped create an organisation called Giyur KeHalacha, which has grown into a network of Orthodox conversion courts that are working independently of the Chief Rabbinate. The organisation gained traction after a number of high-profile rabbis came on board such as Shlomo Riskin. However, Davidson soon left that organisation, partly over their attempts to gain favour with the Chief Rabbinate. He then co-founded a new organisation called Ahavat HaGer, which is an umbrella group of Orthodox rabbis around the world who wish to convert independently of centralized rabbinic organizations, and have agreed to accept any conversion that meets the minimum standard under the

Halacha ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is based on biblical commandments ('' mi ...

. The organisation connects communities around the world and has rabbis from

, the

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and

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as well as Israeli rabbis with communal connections in

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, and the

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. Davidson is an expert on the laws of conversion having studied them for over a decade. He is also a protégé of Rabbi Haim Amsalem, and has sat on a number of conversion courts around the world with him. He is also active in training rabbis to perform conversions, and setting out principles to assist other courts. While his adversarial style has alienated him from some authorities, Davidson believes that a forceful approach is needed to break the monopoly of the Chief Rabbis. He has called the current Chief Rabbinate an "illegitimately coercive institution"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davidson, Chuck 1961 births Living people American Orthodox rabbis People from Silver Spring, Maryland American emigrants to Israel People from Beit Shemesh 21st-century American rabbis

Marriages

Conversions

See also

References