Okay, I just read the article, not the whole article, because the excerpt was bothersome enough. I’m also somewhat suspicious of it, since there is such a concerted effort to delegitimize the State of Israel. What better places to do this than forums that are supposed to be about Jewish culture? What better issue to exploit than the recent news, inequality between sexes. So, for me, after reading it, it might be a work of fiction.

For instance,

Had you asked us six years ago where we dreamed of raising a family, we’d have answered ‘Israel’ without hesitation.

This means that at least 8 years ago they began to make plans to move to Israel. That’s at least two years of thoughts, doubts, and plans. And now they are surprised by Israeli law and Jewish custom? This doesn’t make sense. If people move from one city to another in the US, you’ll find out property values, cost of living, tax structure.

And then there is this:

What this means practically is that the government body that oversees all major life-cycle events—as well as regulating food production—is a religious institution, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.

Food production? No. Farmers do this. Kibbutz or Moshav does this. To certify if something is Kosher, yes there are organizations that do this, all over the world. If you want to keep a kosher home, this is essential help, not religious oppression.

Regarding burial, for reasons mentioned below, they aren’t that far from legal conversion, and if this issue is really that important, they can take the next half-step. That’s why people move to Israel, to continue to take the next half-steps in their spiritual life. For their daughter’s burial:

In Israel, any citizen not affiliated with a religious group has a special status vis—vis burial. Following the mass immigration from the Former Soviet Union in the 1990s, the number of individuals in this special class grew, and the Israeli government sought to develop suitable arrangements for burial. Jewish tradition ascribes significance to all burial — Jewish and non-Jewish — and thus, though there are generally separate burial grounds for non-Jews, all bodies are treated with respect and care.

I would gladly trade places with her daughter, since I very well could be an ocean away from Israel. That’s another one of the reasons for Aliyah, to finally rest anywhere in Israel. Plus, there are private cemeteries in Israel, and cemeteries on Kibbutzim and Moshavs. It’s a solvable problem.

Orthodox religious law is the law of the land: Only a man can marry a woman, only a man can grant a divorce.

This doesn’t even make sense. Both spouses sign the Ketubah. There is a tractate of Talmud about this. Functionally, it’s a marriage license. A divorce also requires a document, called a Get. Got news for this couple, divorces are acrimonious. Whether the husband decides to give the Get is all part of the acrimony. There is considerable pressure put on the husband to give this document when appropriate. It’s an issue, the acrimony. No different than any place else.

To me, this is the kicker:

We could not be married in Israel because of Erin’s official lack of Jewishness, despite the fact that we are observant Jews who keep Shabbat and a kosher home.

If they keep Shabbat, and they have a kosher home, then this is not a big deal to have discussions with a Rabbi, which they should already be having, to get certifications. It’s not like in Chicago you don’t have licenses and legal issues if you want to drive or own a business—did they expect a bureaucratically free society?

The only issue that might be a sticking point in their already fully converted life would be Taharat HaMishpacha. Okay, that’s reasonable. But, again, it is a matter of finding people that make you comfortable.