1_CONTENTS

OPINION

22

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ADRIEN CHANDLER
The Jewish community attacks
the deadly Tay-Sachs disease.

42

NOTEBOOK

Make My Pledge

GARY ROSENBLATT
Donating to Jewish organizations
comes with established routines.

.

44

LIGHTSIDE

Happy (Gasp)
New Year

ARTHUR MAGIDA
A lighthearted look at facts
and foibles of 1988 and 1989.

How Will Intermarriage
Affect Reform Judaism?

DAVID R. FRAZER

A

heated controversy continues to
boil in the Reform movement on
the subject of interfaith marriage.
In the Conservative and Orthodox
movements there is no dispute since,
uniformly, those rabbis will not perform an
interfaith marriage.
A majority of Reform rabbis, likewise,
will not perform interfaith, marriages, but
some will officiate under a variety of con-
ditions: if the couple agrees to raise the
children as Jews or if they commit
themselves to joining the rabbi's temple.
Still others will agree if the non-Jewish
partner promises to begin the conversion
process. A few Reform rabbis will perform
the marriage without any major conditions
attached.
It is not the nature of the conditions
among officiating rabbis that has caused
the controversy. Rather, it is whether the
rabbi should perform the ceremony under
any terms when one partner is not Jewish
and has not yet converted.
Rabbi Eugene Mihaly, professor of rab-
binic literature and executive dean for
academic affairs of the Hebrew Union Col-
lege, argues that there is nothing in the Bi-
ble, the Talmud and the Codes that
precludes a mixed marriage. In his 83-page
paper on Jewish marriage; he concludes,
"Reform Judaism responds to change in
various ways according to the Reform prin-
ciple of the autonomy of the individual .. .
Reform Judaism does more than tolerate
diversity, it engenders it."

David Frazer, a former Detroiter, is a lawyer
in Phoenix, Ariz., and past president of the
Phoenix Jewish Federation.

center

AUTOS

A Reform ketubah: To survive we must expand.

Expressing the opposing view is a docu-
ment circulated by Rabbi Simeon J. Maslin
and a "Committee of 100" titled "Reform
Rabbis and Mixed Marriage."
Their position is that the section of the
marriage ceremony providing that the
bride and groom consecrate themselves to
each other "according to the heritage of
Moses and Israel" is inconsistent with a
mixed marriage since a non-Jew cannot be
an heir to the heritage of Moses and Israel.
After reading this literature, it is easy
to have a mixed response. But the central
point really is: Which rabbinic position will
save Judaism from decimating itself in the
next 100 years?
As it stands, about 40 to 50 percent of
Jews are intermarrying. Unfortunately, an
alarming number of these result in the
Jewish partner attending services in a
church (or complete non-attendance at any
religious institution) and children raised in
a non-Jewish way.
To combat this, the Reform movement
started Operation Outreach as a way to en-
courage conversion to Judaism in cases
where there is a natural connection to the
Jewish faith.
It is a laudable and enlightened techni-
que to win new converts to our religion,
culture and ethical heritage. However, let's
be honest with its chances of success. Un-
til rabbis open their eyes and minds to ex-
isting society, Operation Outreach may
never reach its rightful and full potential.
An actual example (with appropriate
name changes) demonstrates where we are
in the 1980s:
Howard Cohen, 22, is a recent college
graduate. He was raised in a Jewish home
that observed the major Jewish holidays.

Continued on Page 10

Our special
section
focuses
on the
Auto Show
and fond
memories.

55

ENTERTAINMENT

Such A Gift

ELIZABETH KAPLAN
Jack La Zebnik comes home
with stories of parents, life and love.

72

ANN ARBOR

Politics And UJA

SUSAN LUDMER-GLIEBE
New Jewish Agenda backs alternatives
to Ann Arbor's annual Jewish appeal.

75

TEENS

Conventioneers

A peek inside BBYO's
annual regional conclave.

DEPARTMENTS

14
26
28
34
52
66

68
73
77
82
84
107

Frontlines
Inside Washington
Synagogues
Sports
For Women
On Campus

Movies
For Seniors
Engagements
Births
Single Life
Obituaries

CANDLELIGHTING

4:57 p.m.
January 6, 1989
Sabbath ends Jan. 7 6:01 p.m.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

7