On Sept. 6, Israel’s Chief Rabbi David Lau banned the burial in Israel of a (still living) man whose son refused to grant his wife a divorce and fled to the United States. The ruling was an effort to pressure the husband into freeing his wife from their marriage.
In Israel, marriages, divorces and most burials are conducted according to one's religion. Jews get married according to Jewish law, Muslims according to Muslim law, Christians according to church regulations, etc. There are no civil marriages or civil divorces. Civil burials exist, but no Jewish Orthodox or ultra-Orthodox family would ever turn to such a solution.
