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It was her inability to find
a rabbi who would marry her
and her fiance, whom she
describes as a "lapsed
Unitarian," that planted the
seed for her quest.
In the end, a cantor and
opera singer who had played
a rabbi in the movie version
of Goodbye Columbus married
the couple.
Six years later, after read-
ing an article in a Jewish
newspaper that told how a
Reform rabbi had blessed the
union of a lesbian couple, she
visited him, only to learn
that he wouldn't have mar-
ried her either.
Schiffman turned to reli-
gion books but found them
difficult to connect with and
boring.
"For me, humor is really
important and I think it
helps open me up to wis-
dom," she said.
Her quest receives a boost
when she learns that, accord-
ing to Jewish tradition, the
Talmud is not finished, which opens a
crack in the door for her to "recast
our qUestions." The Talmud, she
writes, "was waiting for us to continue
to write ourselves, and in so doing, to
invent the future."
For the most part, her parents sup-
port her quest.
"It touches a chord with them.
They've always been culturally Jewish
and expressed that through social
action," she said, mentioning anti-
Vietnam War protests and campaigns
for liberal political candidates. "They
just don't understand the religious
aspect of it."
In fact, one of the most interesting
parts of the book comes when she
takes them to an unconventional syna-
gogue in the Bay Area.
Generation J may not resonate as
much with those who grew up with
more positive Jewish identities.
Indeed, there are some parts that may
make some affiliated Jews wince.
So could the book's dust jacket,
which features Schiffman's back
henna-tattooed with a vine that inter-
sects a Star of David.
But several members of the audi-
ence at the New York event at which
she appeared stood up and com-
mended her for her bravery and
frankness. When she was inter-
viewed on the radio recently, a reli-
gious Catholic who was marrying a
religious Jew called in and said

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Schiffman's attitude about intermar-
riage — she wants to reframe it as
an opportunity for the Jewish com-
munity — made her feel less alone.
In any event, she's unapologetic
about her approach, saying she
wanted to make Jews "who are really
comfortable examine a few things."
While she hasn't come to any reso-
lution about Judaism, Schiffman, who
is pregnant, says she and her husband
plan on raising their child as a Jew.
She teaches reading to prisoners
at San Quentin with one of the fig-
ures in the book — a convert to
Judaism — and she sees this work as
a mitzvah.
She also recently met with program
directors with the Reform movement's
Union of American Hebrew
Congregations to discuss how it could
connect with unaffiliated Jews like
herself. Her advice: Examine innova-
tive programs created outside orga-
nized Jewry, such as the Bay Area's
jEwCrEw, which began with a few
people meeting in a cafe and has led
to regular book discussions and corn-
munity service projects.
She meets every other week with a
rabbi to discuss Jewish readings —
she's taken with the philosophers
Martin Buber and Mordechai Kaplan,
the founder of Reconstructionism,
and she plans to study Hebrew.
"I'm in a relationship with Judaism
now. And it will keep growing and
changing," she said. ❑

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