NOTEBOOK 1
PASSAT
JANUARY CLEARANCE
GARY ROSENBLATT
OVER
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Editor
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BOB MORIAN
313) 336-9200
The Responses
To Intermarriage
1-800-365-9200
Everyone in
the Jewish com-
munity seems to
agree that the
way to respond
to intermarriage
is through out-
reach. That's
what makes me nervous.
Since when do Jews all
agree about how to counter
something as serious and
controversial as intermar-
riage?
But not to worry. After do-
ing a bit of research, I've
found that while "outreach"
is the buzzword in the Jew-
ish community, there is
little agreement on what it
means or how it should be
put into effect.
There is agreement that,
with the current rate of
intermarriage at 52 percent,
it has become the No. 1 do-
mestic concern of American
Jewry.
But how do we respond?
The extreme traditional ap-
proach has been that we
should simply write off those
who intermarry and focus on
quality rather than quanti-
ty; the extreme liberal camp
has said that we should ac-
cept the reality of increasing
intermarriage in a
pluralistic society and make
it possible for the offspring of
such marriages to be con-
sidered Jews.
Both sides acknowledge
that intermarriage is the
symptom, not the problem,
and that more and more
Jews care less and less about
being Jewish. And both sides
emphasize the importance of
prevention — providing a
quality Jewish education to
as many young people as
possible, promoting visits to
Israel, family retreats and
intensive Jewish camping
experiences.
That's all fine and good,
but how do you deal with the
reality of a young couple, a
Jew and a Christian who are
in love and getting married?
The Reform movement's
approach is to try to bring
the couple closer to Judaism
and to let it be known that,
contrary to Halachah (tradi-
tional Jewish law), the child
of a non-Jewish mother is
considered Jewish if he or
she is raised as a Jew.
Advocates of this view-
point say that it deals with
reality and that it is better
to try to embrace intermar-
ried couples than to bemoan
their fate.
But for all its logic, this at-
tempt to stem the tide of
assimilation may not only
create a permanent split
between halachic and non-
halachic Jews but could
dilute the quality and prac-
tice of Judaism.
Orthodox and Conser-
vative leaders bemoan the
fact that there is no conver-
sion process required by the
Reform movement for the
children of non-Jewish
mothers to be considered
Jews, thus changing the
standards of Jewish defini-
tion after thousands of
years.
But until now, other than
criticizing the Reform ap-
proach, the Orthodox and
Conservative communities
have been little heard from
in the way of response to
intermarriage.
For the most part, the Or-
thodox community has
steered clear of the issue,
Who's going to
change who more
the Jews or the
non-Jews — in the
process?
and Rabbi Marc Angel, pres-
ident of the (Orthodox) Rab-
binical Council of America
(RCA) thinks that is a
mistake that must be cor-
rected.
"We've always said inter-
marriage is someone else's
problem. We haven't been
been out front when it comes
to outreach, and retreating
from that responsibility is
one of our major shortcom-
ings."
He cited an upcoming
series of regional con-
ferences, sponsored by the
Rabbinical Council, on the
subject of intermarriage.
Topics of discussion will in-
clude exploring ways for Or-
thodox rabbis to consider
outreach to intermarried
couples while maintaining a
strong posture against
intermarriage, and acting
more positively in the area
of conversion without corn-
promising standards of con-
version.
The dilemma is clear: how
do you take a step toward
the intermarried without
appearing to condone inter-
marriage?
An article by Rabbi Jack
Simcha Cohen, an Orthodox
rabbi in Los Angeles, has