« March 2008 | Main | June 2008 »

April 2008 Archives

April 17, 2008

The Passover Test for Intermarried Couples

One the greatest vexations in American Jewry today is how to respond to intermarriage. Is intermarriage apostasy? Should Judaism be "watered down" to appeal to couples to whom religion is not very important? Should intermarried couples be welcomed in hope that they will raise their children Jewish?

There's no consensus on how to respond to intermarriage across the Jewish spectrum. Reform Judaism would be more open to intermarried couples, Orthodox Judaism the least open. Even within denominations, differences exist. Boston has a metro wide policy of welcoming couples, and apparently has had great success, with 60% of intermarried couples raising their children Jewish, double the national average.

The Passover Test
What the Passover Seder reveals about interfaith couples.

My Question Is: One hears a great deal about intermarriage, but what about Jewish non-Marriage? I know from anecdotes and statistics that Jews are less likely than non-Jews to marry. When Jews marry, they marry later in life. One would think that non-marriage is a greater dilemma, but why doesn't one hear about it more?

Corroborating Statistics on Late Marriage:
Here

About April 2008

This page contains all entries posted to Interreligious Current Events in April 2008. They are listed from oldest to newest.

March 2008 is the previous archive.

June 2008 is the next archive.

Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.