Inter-Circle
The organized Jewish community is reaching out to, rather than rejecting, interfaith couples.
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ecades ago, intermarriage was a rare act of defiance, education to ketubahs (marriage contracts). It is generating
done with the knowledge that one might be for- debates about whether — and how to — reach out to inter-
ever cut off from family and friends. Jewish par- faith couples, but it is also generating warnings that Amer-
ents would sit shivah when their children married ican Judaism may be on the verge of extinction.
out, likening their departure from Ju-
For this issue, the Jewish News staff explored the
Scott, Dayna and
Joanne
Campbell:
daism to a death.
A Stepping Stones family. impact of intermarriage on Detroit's Jewish com-
Today, with estimates of the i intermarriage rate
munity. We spoke to interfaith couples, educators, re-
ranging from 38-52 percent, intermarriage touches almost ligious leaders and community leaders. We examined
every American Jewish family. And, with many synagogues outreach efforts to bring interfaith families into the com-
welcoming interfaith couples, marrying a non-Jew no longer munity. We looked at statistics, and at the issues faced by
means the end of participation in mainstream Jewish life. intermarried couples.
Whether we like it or not, intermarriage is changing the
We do not condone intermarriage, nor do we condemn it.
face of the Jewish community, nationwide and in Detroit. It Instead, we are reporting on a growing segment of Jews and
is influencing everything from synagogue policies to Jewish the changes they have wrought on the entire community.
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