Hel An Exciting Jewish Community

MICHAEL BROOKS
The results of the 1990 National
wish Population Survey are now in
id the news is anything but new:
.ws now constitute less than 2 per-
mt of the population in this country,
d more than 50 percent are marry-
g non-Jews. But before we all join
the collective "gevalt!" we would do
e;i to distinguish the fever from the
ness which afflicts the body of
.:wish life.
Intermarriage is the fever, and it is
.fling us something that we all need
acknowledge, namely that the
essage of life in the Jewish commu-
ty as now articulated is not corn-
;ling enough for more than half of
ur young people to draw that kind of
line and choose to remain on one
ide of it.
The message of Hillel at the
iversity of Michigan is not about
?sisting intermarriage, and the thou-
ands of students who connect with
each year know that. Rather, it
`about belonging to a vibrant corn-
\-lity with a past and a future, a
nunity with rich experience
h has compelling and important
as to say to the entire University.
3 students who exercise real
of the 30 independent pro-
: Is and organizations which are
t of Hillel do so because they are
:en a chance to make things hap-
Jen which are not only personally
,,iisfying but of transcendent value
they make a visible difference in
he quality of our life and culture.
I Much of the large Jewish commu-
lity thinks that the "product" of Hillel
s Jews marrying Jews, but it's not
trite — that's only a very important
by-product. Hillel at the University of
Michigan is receiving increasing
national attention because it repre-
sents a successful paradigm for how
a truly diverse, pluralistic, and excit-
ing Jewish community can operate. It
is the only kind of community to
which people with real options will
choose to belong.

l

;

i

Michael Brooks is executive direc-
tor of Hillel, University of Michigan.

Leaving Home
Workshop Topic
Workshop

is offering a
Congregation Shaarey
program for parents and college-bound stu-
dents on February 28 from 9:30 a.m. to
noon. Titled "Leaving Home," the program
- looks at values, fraternities and sororities,
I cults and offers ways to respond to anti-
. Israel propaganda and anti-Semitism.
The program, to be held at the congrega-
tion's Southfield location, will be led by
Michael Brooks, Dr. Avi Aharoni and
Norman Beitner. There is a fee. Additional
information can be obtained by calling
681-5353.

`Enlightening Comments' On Intermarriage

By RABBI AVRAM JACOBOWITZ

Several years ago I had sched-
uled a discussion at the University of
Michigan campus on the topic of
"Marriage, Intermarriage, and
Racism", only to realize a few days
before the event that it was mistak-
ingly scheduled for the evening
before Thanksgiving day. I debated
whether to cancel the program. I
decided to go ahead with the pro-
gram in consideration to the few who
might show up in spite of the unusu-
al timing.
Upon arrival at the Michigan
Union, I was pleasantly surprised to
find a roomful of students awaiting
the lecture to take place. When the
talk was over I was curious to find
out the reason for the unexpected
participation. The answer I received
was shocking.
"We really did not come to listen
to what you have to say, Rabbi,"
they said. "We merely intended to
protest the discussion of such a
racial subject on such a liberal mind-
ed campus as the University of
Michigan. After listening to you we
are glad we came. We appreciate
your enlightening comments and we
definitely discovered that we have
nothing to protest about."
The lesson of this experience,
however, was a valuable insight to
today's mindset of young Jewish sin-
gle students. It brought forth to me
the realization that the phenomenon

of interfaith marriages has become
so "normalized" that those who
relate to it as a problem are looked
upon a old fashioned and of the
racist type by a significant segment
of the up-and-coming Jewish gener-
ation.
Perhaps the most bothersome
fact about the problem of intermar-
riage is the fact that more and more
of our people don't really consider it
to be so bothersome any longer. By
some it even takes the form of a
desired goal, an ideal, as if the
American Jewish dream of being
Americanized has finally been made
possible.
Much talk and many demographic
studies have been conducted on this
issue by various agencies, which
produces some interesting insights
and discoveries. In practical terms
however, these have not had any
real impact in solving this problem.
On one hand, the issue of intermar-
riage is a complex one, one which
we don't have a magic answer for.
Understanding that the objection
of Judaism towards interfaith mar-
riages does not stem out of racial
reasons must be a crucial part of the
educational efforts. If Judaism would
oppose intermarriages on the basis
of race it would have to forbid the
marriage between a black Jew and a
white Jew which clearly it does not.
Any convert regardless of race is an
acceptable candidate for marriage to

another Jew. The point must be
clearly made that unless one under-
stands first — what marriage is —
and second — what Judaism is one
cannot really understand the issue
at hand.
Every human being consists of
two major components, one of which
is the physical. The animal-like part
of us and the other the spiritual,
which we refer to as our soul. As the
genius of Vilna states it — a combi-
nation of a horse and a rider. The
horse referring to the body. The rider
standing for the soul.
While most people connect well
on the physical, i.e. the He-horse
and the She-horse. They fail for the
most part to relate to one another on
the spiritual level, i.e. the He-rider
and the She-rider. For a marriage to
reach its desired goal, both the spiri-
tual and physical must complement
each other and fully cooperate with
one another.
I believe that only through dia-
logue and serious discussion on this
issue in public and private forums
we may regain the respect for the
Jewish way in love and marriage
and stop the tide of assimilation and
intermarriage that threatens the very
existence of out people.

Rabbi Jacobowitz is director
Machon L'Torah, the Jewish
Learning Network of Michigan.

