John Hardwick

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Jonathan and Stacy Schwartz

Non-Jews Welcome

New NEXTGen group provides
resources for interfaith couples.

Stacy Gittleman | Contributing Writer

R

esponding to the changing needs
in the Metro Detroit Jewish com-
munity, NEXTGen, the Jewish
Federation’s young adult division, is
launching its new initiative in reaching
out to interfaith couples with a kickoff
event 7:30-9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27, at
the Valentine Distillery, 161 Vester Ave.,
Ferndale.
Part social networking mixer, part
panel discussion, the event hopes
to open a conversation and provide
resources for a rising demographic in
the local Jewish community that may
have been long overlooked.
“As NEXTGen reaches its five-year
mark, it is time for us to reassess the
community and learn how to better
address how portions of our population
are being overlooked or underserved,”
said Rebecca Hurvitz, content strategist
at the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit.
The new interfaith group is a stand-
alone group not modeled after any other
city’s or Federation’s outreach initiatives
and was created to address the unique
needs of the Jewish population in
Detroit.
According to the 2013 Pew Portrait of
Jewish Americans survey, intermarriage
is increasingly common among Jews; 44
percent of all currently married Jewish
respondents — and 58 percent of those
who have married since 2005 — indi-
cate they are married to a non-Jewish
spouse.
“Our new interfaith group is just one
initiative from the Federation, including
our recent affinity group reaching out
to the LGBTQ community,” she said.
“These sub-groups need to exist to make
all who want to be a part of the Jewish
community welcome and included.”
Hurvitz added that the group is open
to anyone in an interfaith relationship,
from those who are dating to engaged
couples and married couples in all
phases of life.
The Interfaith Couples group is the
brainchild of NEXTGen board mem-
bers Keith Kronenberg and Jonathan

10 October 20 • 2016

Schwartz. Schwartz, an attorney who
recently joined the new Southfield office
of the Foster Swift law firm, holds sev-
eral leadership positions in the Jewish
community.
Sharing the story of how he and his
wife, Stacy, have tackled interfaith issues
in their own eight-year marriage as they
continue their involvement with the
Jewish community, Schwartz will mod-
erate a conversation and a Q&A session
with three interfaith couples of varying
ages who are in different stages of their
marriage.
Schwartz said interfaith couples face
unique challenges and one of them is
the feeling of being alienated by Jewish
institutions. But as NEXTGen reaches
a half-decade mark, Schwartz said an
interfaith group is just the thing the
community needs to make them feel
welcome.
“There is a diversity of ways to be
Jewish and express one’s Judaism,”
Schwartz said. “The new interfaith
group will be a space where both the
Jewish and non-Jewish partner can
explore Jewish customs and history.
I hope that even couples who mar-
ried decades ago will come to us as a
resource to learn more and get more
exposure to Jewish life.”
Schwartz said the goal of the group is
to welcome interfaith couples who want
to learn about and be more connected to
Judaism.
“We are going to have an open con-
versation about the challenges interfaith
couples face, from dealing with both
sides of the family during holidays to
raising children,” he said.
“Then we will talk about what the
community can do to provide support
and how they can be involved and stay
connected to the Jewish community. It is
a group many older couples tell me they
wished existed when they were starting
out.”

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For more information on the event and to register,
contact Alyssa Gorenberg at gorenberg@JFMD.org
or go to www.jewishdetroit.org/programs/nextgen.

