Your
Celebration
DESTINATION

FRANKLIN ATHLETIC CLUB

Jonathan and Stacy
Schwartz with
daughter Mila Jane

tions that are very welcoming to inter-
faith families. This is not the case for
everyone, though.
“Many interfaith families do not
find a warm welcome and are instead
made to feel removed from the com-
munity,” he said. “Eventually, they may
lose all connection to Judaism.”
That is one reason why he and
Schwartz believe it is so important to
grow the conversation about inter-
faith inclusion. “I am grateful for the
opportunity to do that and to other-
wise work toward a more inclusive
Jewish community for interfaith fami-
lies,” Schonberger said.
Through his work with Federation’s
Interfaith Couples Mission to Israel
and the couples’ group, Schwartz said
he’s learned how many other local
interfaith couples have navigated the
High Holidays, including the chal-
lenges that can arise.
“Having a supportive family, friends
you can talk to, forward-thinking
religious leadership and a welcoming
local Jewish community all help to
create positive, meaningful and last-
ing Jewish experiences for interfaith
couples during the High Holidays and
beyond,” Schwartz said. “Conversely,
an absence of these factors has far
too often led to disillusionment and
estrangement of both the Jewish and
non-Jewish partner from Judaism.”
Schonberger said that he and Tara,
as an interfaith couple, don’t experi-
ence any challenges specific to the
High Holidays. “On the contrary, and

as with other Jewish holidays through-
out the year, we do not have to reach
compromises about how to spend our
time, such as at which temple we will
attend services or with whose parents
we will enjoy a holiday meal or, most
uncomfortably, whose mother makes
the better brisket,” he said.
“Rather, the challenges we face are
more generalized, such as those borne
from the belief that interfaith mar-
riage is harmful to the continuity of
the Jewish people,” he continued. “We
have learned that some people enter-
tain little to no conversation about
interfaith inclusion. This affects how
we contemplate our two sons’ Jewish
identities and how their lives will take
shape in our community.”
Schwartz encourages interfaith cou-
ples who have had bad experiences in
the past to reach out to the Interfaith
Couples Group for support, resources
and to get plugged back in. “Because
this is their Jewish community as
much as anyone else’s,” he said.
Schonberger echoes that sentiment.
“I hope the work we do through the
Interfaith Couples Group helps to
strengthen existing connections for
some and cause a meaningful recon-
nect for others,” he said. “Much more
importantly, however, I hope that
we all, as individuals and as part of
a greater whole, take a moment dur-
ing the upcoming High Holidays to
consider how we can each continue to
grow the conversation.” •

Our Bar Mitzvah was executed
professionally and with the
utmost attention to detail.
Everybody had a blast!

- The Weinsteins, Farmington Hills

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September 21 • 2017

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