A case against intermarriage
Eloquent and persuasive-
Jack Bieler the rabbi of Kemp Mill Synagogue in Silver Spring in the Baltimore Jewish Times:
...The key source of Jewish identity today is Jewish parents who, in order to counter the assimilatory forces affecting their children, have to make concerted and proactive efforts at considerable financial cost, as well as sacrifice time and energy, to try to expose their offspring to memorable and substantive Jewish experiences and role models.
Only when parents do their best to convey their personal Jewish commitment strongly, and very self-consciously design Jewish activities in which their children can actively participate, do they create the potential for their offspring to grow up seeing themselves not only as self-confident and passionate about Judaism, but also dedicated to assuring that their own future children will feel the same way about Jewish traditions.
The difficulties that intermarriage poses to achieving such an outcome should be self-evident. Even if a non-Jewish parent is supportive of his/her children being brought up as Jews, there will be significant limits upon what such a person can be expected to contribute to his/her offspring's nascent Jewish identity.
When children encounter their own identity crises during their adolescent years, which parent will be looked upon as the one to emulate, and with whom to identify? What lesson does a child learn from a non-Jewish parent, even if he/she is not a practicing adherent of his/her faith, a fact that will certainly not be lost on this young Jew?
Should and even can a parent be expected to recuse him/herself due to different religious beliefs when his/her own child comes with a question about faith, about theodicy, about the treatment of Jews in broader society? From the perspective of advancing Jewish continuity, will Judaism be best served when children are presented by their parents with approaches of different religions and told to choose for themselves how to deal with life's problems and challenges?
While American culture encourages every individual to make his/her own choices wherever possible regarding major personal decisions, a marriage partner certainly being one of the most significant choices that anyone can ever make over the course of a lifetime, a commitment to Jewish continuity via an unapologetic Jewish upbringing of one's children should strongly inform the type of person one chooses to marry and discourage the option of intermarriage.
http://www.washingtonjewishweek.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=4&ArticleID=4003&TM=83081.23
On Rosh HaShana in their temples will Reform (and Conservative) "leaders" have the courage to distribute this???
Jack Bieler the rabbi of Kemp Mill Synagogue in Silver Spring in the Baltimore Jewish Times:
...The key source of Jewish identity today is Jewish parents who, in order to counter the assimilatory forces affecting their children, have to make concerted and proactive efforts at considerable financial cost, as well as sacrifice time and energy, to try to expose their offspring to memorable and substantive Jewish experiences and role models.
Only when parents do their best to convey their personal Jewish commitment strongly, and very self-consciously design Jewish activities in which their children can actively participate, do they create the potential for their offspring to grow up seeing themselves not only as self-confident and passionate about Judaism, but also dedicated to assuring that their own future children will feel the same way about Jewish traditions.
The difficulties that intermarriage poses to achieving such an outcome should be self-evident. Even if a non-Jewish parent is supportive of his/her children being brought up as Jews, there will be significant limits upon what such a person can be expected to contribute to his/her offspring's nascent Jewish identity.
When children encounter their own identity crises during their adolescent years, which parent will be looked upon as the one to emulate, and with whom to identify? What lesson does a child learn from a non-Jewish parent, even if he/she is not a practicing adherent of his/her faith, a fact that will certainly not be lost on this young Jew?
Should and even can a parent be expected to recuse him/herself due to different religious beliefs when his/her own child comes with a question about faith, about theodicy, about the treatment of Jews in broader society? From the perspective of advancing Jewish continuity, will Judaism be best served when children are presented by their parents with approaches of different religions and told to choose for themselves how to deal with life's problems and challenges?
While American culture encourages every individual to make his/her own choices wherever possible regarding major personal decisions, a marriage partner certainly being one of the most significant choices that anyone can ever make over the course of a lifetime, a commitment to Jewish continuity via an unapologetic Jewish upbringing of one's children should strongly inform the type of person one chooses to marry and discourage the option of intermarriage.
http://www.washingtonjewishweek.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=4&ArticleID=4003&TM=83081.23
On Rosh HaShana in their temples will Reform (and Conservative) "leaders" have the courage to distribute this???
posted by Yeshiva Orthodoxy
at 12:23 PM
1 Comments:
On the other hand.. They want "success" and to preserve what they have.
Half are not goyim since most of those have fallen competely off.
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