The Looming Intermarriage Crisis
Page 3-THE NEWS-September 1991
By Marc Tanenbaum
(JTA)
More than a decade ago, a
young woman came to my office
asking if I would preside over
her conversion to Judaism.
The woman, a magazine writ
er, was a former Catholic nun
who, under the impact of Vat
ican Council II, had become
intrigued by Judaism and had
begun a serious study of the
Jewish religion and Jewish cul
ture.
After determining over several
meetings that her interest in
becoming Jewish was genuine, I
arranged for an Orthodox and
a Conservative rabbi to prepare
her intellectually and spiritually
for conversion, climaxed by
immersion in a mikvah (ritual
bath).
(She had asked for an Ortho
dox rabbi, saying that should she
ever make aliyah to Israel, she
did not want to have problems
being accepted as a Jew.)
She subsequently married a
young Jewish man who was a
“cultural” or secular Jew. She set
up a kosher home, “took” her
husband to shul services on
shabbat and Yom Tov and, later,
had her two children educated
Year of Redemption
(cont’d from preceding page)
existent.
This perfect world will come
about through our actions and
deeds. By self-improvement and
spiritual growth we could
change our own surroundings
and make a major impact on
society. Every good deed, every
mitzvah brings us a step closer
to the perfect world. It is known
in the Torah as the era of
Moshiach. As Maimonides
writes, that the coming of Mo
shiach will first bring about
change in the freedom and
independence of Israel and will
eventually lead to the prophetic
vision of the future where the
lamb and the lion will live side
by side.
We are indeed in the shadows
of redemption. It is certain that
this year is ripe for the coming
of Moshiach. May it be that this
year of 5752 will be the year of
Moshiach.
Israel Seen Up Close
(cont’d from page 1)
traveled to Ben-Gurion Airport
at 2 a.m. to meet an arriving
flight carrying Soviet Jews.
As part of the course on
religious pluralism, participants
met with Rabbi Avraham Shap-
ira, the Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi
of Israel and heard presentations
from the leader of the Orthodox
Degel HaTorah Party, as well as
from representatives of the
Conservative and Reform
Movements in Israel.
To study the territories and
settlements, the executives trav
eled to Efrat to meet with Rabbi
Shlomo Riskin, who founded
the community near Jerusalem.
The Institute was timed to
coincide with the annual Jewish
Agency Assembly, which is
traditionally well attended by
executives of large Federations
but not by their colleagues from
small cities. The group took part
in Assembly sessions, even to the
extent of proposing a resolution
which was approved by the
Assembly.
The Institute provided the
executives with an intimate
understanding of the complexity
and enormity of the task at hand
— the absorption of Soviet and
Ethiopian Jews. They also got
a wonderful sense of the Zionist
idealism in Israel, how the
immigration has lit a fire in the
life of Israel. The purpose of the
State has again become clear.
They came back knowing that
their jobs have become more
urgent and more complex.
Participants represented com
munities such as Southern
Maine; Ann Arbor, MI; Ashe
ville, NC; Chattanooga, TN;
Austin, TX; all with Jewish
populations of 5,000 or less.
The purpose of the Institute
was to provide an opportunity
for executives who rarely get to
Israel to participate in an inten
sive educational program de
signed to improve their under
standing of key issues as well as
to enable them to take part in
the Jewish Agency Assembly,”
said Dr. Joseph I. Cohen, Di
rector of CJF’s Community
Services Department.
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in an Orthodox day school.
As told to me, the husband
in time felt pressured by all this
unexpected Jewishness coming
from his former-nun wife. He
complained to his mother, also
a “cultural” Jew. Her response
was, “That’s what happens when
you marry a shiksa.”
That is an intermarriage ex
perience with “a happy Jewish
ending.”
Unfortunately, national Jew
ish studies on the rising rate of
intermarriage provide little basis
for any nachas. According to a
major study by the Council of
Jewish Federations, 52 percent
of the Jewish men and women
who have married since 1985
married non-Jewish spouses.
Some five percent of these
marriages involve one partner
who is a convert to Judaism. The
survey found that Jews by choice
(converts) number 185,000,
while converts from Judaism
number 210,000.
More significantly, nearly
three of every four children of
intermarriages are being raised
either as Christians or with no
religion at all.
That grim picture is deepened
by the low Jewish birthrate
(lower than Catholics and Pro
testants), the rising tide of
divorce and broken families and
the very limited immigration
rate, mainly of Soviet Jews.
There is some consolation to
be found in the rising numbers
of children receiving a Jewish
education, a high percentage of
Bar Mitzvahs and increasing
Jewish education among many
adults. The dramatic rise in
Orthodox Jewish commitment is
an important balancing wheel.
Nevertheless, if present trends
continue — and there is little
sign of their abating — the
American Jewish community is
facing an unprecedented chal
lenge to its continuity and sur
vival.
There are serious people in the
Orthodox, Conservative and
Reform movements who are
worrying deeply over these
trends, and are trying to carry
out “outreach” or “keruv” pro
grams to lessen the hemorrhag
ing of the Jewish people.
If ever there were a challenge
which cries out for a coherent,
cooperative mobilization of
Jewish wisdom and energies, it
is the intermarriage time-bomb.
Our very future as a significant
American Jewish community is
at stake.
Rabbi Marc Tanenbaum, for
30 years the director of the
international relations depart
ment of the American Jewish
Committee, is now a lecturer,
writer and consultant.
Thanks from a College Student
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— Cheryl Jankowitz
Fort Lee, NJ
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coming year.
— Jodi Wittlin
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