Question:
The question is asked by a JWB worker as to whether he may arrange for a Christian chaplain or for a Justice of the Peace to officiate at the wedding of a Jewish couple when no Jewish chaplain or civilian rabbi is available.
Answer:
In Jewish law and tradition marriage is a Kidushin or sacrament. While the civil validity of a civil or non-denominational marriage ceremony is necessarily recognized, such a wedding is not regarded as satisfying religious or Jewish requirements. Therefore, when a Jewish uniformed man presents himself with the request that arrangements be made for his marriage, it is not Jewishly admissible to arrange for a civil ceremony to be performed by a Justice of the Peace or a non-Jewish chaplain or minister.
If no Jewish chaplain or rabbi is readily available, a rabbi or some other Jewish communal functionary authorized by the state to perform marriages, must be brought in, even if it be from some distance or at some inconvenience. Otherwise the Jewish Welfare Board representative will be in the position of arranging for these two Jews to live together in a relationship which is not sanctioned as marriage under Jewish tradition.