Book

Radical Inclusion: Engaging Interfaith Families for a Thriving Jewish Future is for everyone interested in seeing more interfaith families become more engaged in Jewish life and community – something that must happen if liberal Judaism is going to thrive into the future.

The paperback and eBook for Kindle are available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble; the eBook is available at Apple and Kobo. 

This one-of-a-kind book extends three invitations to interfaith couples to experience Jewish life and find meaning, spiritual expression, community, and a framework to raise caring children. It lays out three road maps for what lay and professional Jewish leaders and their organizations can do:

  • adopt radically inclusive attitudes towards interfaith couples and partners from different faith traditions, treating them as equal to inmarried couples and Jews;
  • adopt radically inclusive policies that embrace full participation by interfaith families; and
  • implement a massive, concerted programmatic response designed to engage interfaith families.

Radical Inclusion was reviewed in the December 2020-January 2021 “News and Reviews” of the Association of Jewish Libraries.

Note: see Updated Footnotes below – After the book’s manuscript was completed, the Berman Jewish Data Bank launched a new website. Clicking on the URLs in the notes for documents found at the data bank brings you to the home page of the data bank but not to the particular document. You can search on the home page for the documents, which can still be found in the data bank, or see below to find a list of updated URLs.

Advance Praise for Radical Inclusion

“In Radical Inclusion, Edmund Case reinforces his well-deserved reputation as an eloquent advocate for a policy of inclusion that would welcome and engage interfaith couples and their offspring in every facet of contemporary Jewish life. He argues calmly, comprehensively, persuasively, and passionately for this position, crafting a book that is must reading for Jewish laypersons as well as Jewish communal and religious leaders. It is a vital work for all who are concerned about the future of Jewish life in North America.”

Rabbi David Ellenson, chancellor emeritus, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion

“The definitive book to date on interfaith families and the challenge of this next era in Jewish and American life: an era of unprecedented mixing, blending, bending, and switching identities. This is an honest and illuminating call for Jewish leadership to focus on people rather than boundaries and borders and is a fearless invitation to create the next iterations of Jewish that paradoxically will only emerge in the space where inclusiveness and distinctiveness meet.”

Rabbi Irwin Kula, co-president, Clal–The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership

“American Jewry is currently experiencing a paradigmatic demographic shift, one that is fundamentally altering what it means to raise children in a Jewish family. Radical Inclusion provides us with a positive and optimistic perspective on those changes, and makes a clear and cogent case for the benefits of embracing the potential contributions intermarriage can bring to the American Jewish community. It … should be a required textbook in every Jewish Studies course.”

Sandy Cardin, President, Charles & Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation

“I know from my own experience how negative attitudes about intermarriage turn interfaith families away – and how a genuinely inclusive stance can draw them in. More interfaith couples and their children would engage in Jewish life if the approaches recommended in this book were adopted widely.”

Michael Douglas, Academy Award Winner, 2015 Genesis Prize Laureate

“A challenge to leaders in the Jewish community…. Agree or disagree, Ed Case has created the framework for a much-needed discussion.”

Rabbi Michael S. Siegel, senior rabbi, Anshe Emet Synagogue

“From narrative to policy to practice, this book lays out a path for Jewish communal leaders to create organizations that welcome and value Jews and the people who love us and help us all live lives full of Jewish values and practices.”

Rabbi Deborah Waxman, president, Reconstructing Judaism

Radical Inclusion lays out a paradigm shift for the Jewish community:  it invites us to see the opportunities and possibilities of the current intermarriage “crisis” in the Jewish community.… It offers a compelling argument for why the Jewish community must engage our interfaith families as full partners in the enterprise of Jewish life.”

Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, senior rabbi, Central Synagogue

“Most North American Jewish families now include folks from other faith traditions. Radical Inclusion is an indispensable guide to navigating this unprecedented period of demographic change, presenting solid research and practical suggestions with clear-eyed optimism.”

Anita Diamant, author of Choosing a Jewish Life, The Jewish Wedding Now, and The Red Tent

“Our Jewish community desperately needs to embrace and engage every family, especially interfaith families…. This book is both thoughtful and powerful. If I could, I would buy a copy for every rabbi and Jewish leader in America.  It’s not just a must read, it’s a must act!”

Jay Sanderson, president and CEO, Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles

“Powerful…. Makes a persuasive case for inclusion, compassion, and welcoming of those seeking a meaningful Jewish life.”

Dr. Ron Wolfson, Fingerhut Professor of Education, American Jewish University; author, Relational Judaism

“Optimistic … visionary … prescient … belongs in the hands of our leadership, especially the American rabbinate and rabbinic students.”

Rabbi Jerome K. Davidson, rabbi emeritus, Temple Beth-El of Great Neck

“Shares the stor[ies] of … so many … who have felt unwanted or unappreciated by the Jewish community because of intermarriage. Forces readers to consider whether existing approaches designed to protect the tradition actually do more to threaten its future. For leaders of the Jewish community, this book provides food for thought as your organization considers how to create a home that feels right for everyone.”

Winnie Sandler Grinspoon, president, Harold Grinspoon Foundation

“The Jewish community faces a stark choice: build walls or build bridges. In relation to intermarriage, the former posture is doomed to failure. The latter can create a community that is enriched by an influx of partners from different faith traditions who see the beauty of Jewish life and creating a Jewish home. Ed Case has made this case to the Jewish community for more than twenty years. Now we have his playbook on how to do it with sensitivity and intelligence.”

Rabbi Sid Schwarz, senior fellow, Hazon; author, Jewish Megatrends: Charting the Course of the American Jewish Future

“A seriously well-documented analysis of the most pressing issue facing the North American Jewish community…. [P]lac[es] this important issue into a context where community leaders and family members can more fully understand how Judaism addresses modernity.”
Rabbi Charles Simon, former executive director, Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs

“Taking a hard look at what’s lacking in efforts to engage interfaith families now, Ed Case advocates forcefully on behalf of an expanded vision of inclusion and … takes on the full array of thorny issues to lay out a path to carry that vision into the world. Read it; then let’s do it together!”

Dru Greenwood, former director, Department of Outreach, Union for Reform Judaism; founding director, SYNERGY: UJA-Federation of New York and Synagogues Together

“The recommendations clearly outlined in this must-read book are solutions we can act on immediately. Young Jews, both children of interfaith families and those married to or dating someone from another background, want to feel embraced by the Jewish community and want to be given the opportunity to make a significant contribution to Jewish life.”

Becky Voorwinde, executive director, Bronfman Fellowship

“Ed Case’s work helped change the way interfaith families are viewed and outreach become normative in many parts of the Jewish community…. I don’t agree with some of his conclusions, but he raises important issues with passion and clarity.”

Barry Shrage, former president and CEO, Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Boston; Professor of the Practice, Brandeis University, Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program; and faculty, Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies

“Must reading for rabbis, cantors, lay leaders, anyone contemplating intermarriage, those who choose Judaism, and born Jews who want a richer understanding of the history and issues surrounding intermarriage…. Makes a powerful case.”

Rabbi Stephen S. Pearce, senior rabbi emeritus, Congregation Emanu-El, San Francisco

“A book that every rabbi, every Jewish educator, every executive director of every Jewish institution should read and embrace.”

Rabbi Steven Carr Reuben, rabbi emeritus, Kehillat Israel Reconstructionist Congregation

“Creating road maps to help create lives of meaning and a strengthened community, Ed Case outlines a better future. This book needs to be widely read.”

Jeffrey R. Solomon, president, Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies

“Provide[s] thoughtful, nuanced, yet realistic approaches to practical and philosophical challenges and opportunities that face those of us who work with all Jewish families.”

Alicia Schuyler Oberman, executive director, Jack Miller Family Foundation, Jack and Goldie Wolfe Miller Fund

“Brings together years of experience, significant data, and clear thinking to provide an understanding of the challenges as well as specific methods to strengthen Jewish life. Anyone interested in building a more vibrant community should read this book.”

Gil Preus, CEO, Jewish Federation of Greater Washington

“Remarkably clear and concise … an important chronicle of Jewish inter- marriage and outreach in America…. This positive vision for the future of engagement should be required reading for … all Jewish communal professionals.”

Paul Golin, executive director, Society for Humanistic Judaism

“Important, timely, thought-provoking—and deeply helpful.”

Nigel S. Savage, president and CEO, Hazon

“With wisdom and sensitivity … provides a road map and support for every couple taking the journey. It should be in every clergyperson’s and communal worker’s library.”

Rabbi Peter Rubinstein, director of Jewish community and Bronfman Center for Jewish Life, 92nd Street Y

“A clarion call for making our synagogues and families truly inclusive, inspiring, and engaging. Highly recommended.”

Rabbi Evan Moffic, Makom Solel Lakeside Congregation, Highland Park, Illinois; author, The Happiness Prayer: Ancient Jewish Wisdom for the Best Way to Live Today

“Masterful … wise advice for couples who unite Jewish and often Christian partners…. Will enrich their marriages and help them raise their children with a deeper and more meaningful understanding of their backgrounds and faiths.”

Newton N. Minow, senior counsel, Sidley Austin LLP

“For anyone who is committed to the future of Jewish life and understands what it means to live in the twenty-first century with the reality of interfaith marriage, this book is filled with insights and practical wisdom.”

Rabbi Alvin Sugarman, rabbi emeritus, The Temple, Atlanta, Georgia

“Ed Case is a prophet and a change agent.”

Rabbi Rim Meirowitz, rabbi emeritus, Temple Shir Tikvah, Winchester, Massachusetts

“If you want to understand interfaith families, and the issues they face in engaging in Jewish life, look no further. Essential reading.”

Jodi Bromberg, CEO, InterfaithFamily

Updated Footnotes

Chapter 1

Note 1

Sidney Goldstein, “Profile of American Jewry: Insights from the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey,” in American Jewish Year Book 1992 (New York: American Jewish Committee, 1992), 125,

Can be found at:

https://www.jewishdatabank.org/content/upload/bjdb/1990_NJPS_Insights_from_the_1990_National_Jewish_Population_Survey_(Goldstein,_AJYB_1992).pdf

Note 4

United Jewish Communities, National Jewish Population Survey 2000– 2001 (New York: United Jewish Communities, 2003), 16

Can be found at:

https://www.jewishdatabank.org/content/upload/bjdb/NJPS2000_Strength_Challenge_and_Diversity_in_the_American_Jewish_Population.pdf

Chapter 2

Note 2

Sidney Goldstein, “Profile of American Jewry: Insights from the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey,” in American Jewish Year Book 1992 (New York: American Jewish Committee, 1992), 124

Can be found at:

https://www.jewishdatabank.org/content/upload/bjdb/1990_NJPS_Insights_from_the_1990_National_Jewish_Population_Survey_(Goldstein,_AJYB_1992).pdf

Note 17

United Jewish Communities, National Jewish Population Survey 2000– 2001 (New York: United Jewish Communities, 2003), 16

Can be found at:

https://www.jewishdatabank.org/content/upload/bjdb/NJPS2000_Strength_Challenge_and_Diversity_in_the_American_Jewish_Population.pdf

Note 18

Pew Research Center, A Portrait of Jewish Americans (Washington, DC: Pew Research Center’s Religions and Public Life Project, 2013), 35–37

Can be found at:

https://www.jewishdatabank.org/content/upload/bjdb/715/jewish-american-full-report-for-web.pdf

Chapter 3

Note 2

United Jewish Communities, National Jewish Population Survey 2000–2001 (New York: United Jewish Communities, 2003),

Can be found at:

https://www.jewishdatabank.org/content/upload/bjdb/NJPS2000_Strength_Challenge_and_Diversity_in_the_American_Jewish_Population.pdf

Pew Research Center, A Portrait of Jewish Americans (Washington, DC: Pew Research Center’s Religions and Public Life Project, 2013),

Can be found at:

https://www.jewishdatabank.org/content/upload/bjdb/715/jewish-american-full-report-for-web.pdf

Steven M. Cohen, Jacob B. Ukeles, and Ron Miller, Jewish Community Study of New York: 2011 (New York: UJA-Federation of New York, 2012),

Can be found at:

https://www.jewishdatabank.org/content/upload/bjdb/597/C-NY-New_York-2011-Main_Report.pdf

Steven M. Cohen and Jacob B. Ukeles, A Portrait of Bay Area Jewish Life and Communities, Community Study Highlights (San Francisco: Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties, 2018),

Can be found at:

https://www.jewishdatabank.org/content/upload/bjdb/2017_BayArea_Portrait_Jewish_Life_CommunityStudyHighlights.pdf

Chapter 4

Note 1

Steven M. Cohen, Jacob B. Ukeles, and Ron Miller, Jewish Community Study of New York: 2011 (New York: UJA-Federation of New York, 2012), 118

Can be found at:

https://www.jewishdatabank.org/content/upload/bjdb/597/C-NY-New_York-2011-Main_Report.pdf

Note 6

Pew Research Center, A Portrait of Jewish Americans (Washington, DC: Pew Research Center’s Religions and Public Life Project, 2013), 14

Can be found at:

https://www.jewishdatabank.org/content/upload/bjdb/715/jewish-american-full-report-for-web.pdf

Chapter 7

Note 2

Steven M. Cohen, Jacob B. Ukeles, and Ron Miller, Jewish Community Study of New York: 2011 (New York: UJA-Federation of New York, 2012), 144

Can be found at:

https://www.jewishdatabank.org/content/upload/bjdb/597/C-NY-New_York-2011-Main_Report.pdf

Chapter 8

Note 12

Pew Research Center, A Portrait of Jewish Americans (Washington, DC: Pew Research Center’s Religions and Public Life Project, 2013), 60, 72, 74–75

Can be found at:

https://www.jewishdatabank.org/content/upload/bjdb/715/jewish-american-full-report-for-web.pdf

Chapter 12

Note 6

Steven M. Cohen, Jacob B. Ukeles, and Ron Miller, Jewish Community Study of New York: 2011 (New York: UJA-Federation of New York, 2012), 188

Can be found at:

https://www.jewishdatabank.org/content/upload/bjdb/597/C-NY-New_York-2011-Main_Report.pdf

Pew Research Center, A Portrait of Jewish Americans (Washington, DC: Pew Research Center’s Religions and Public Life Project, 2013), 68

Can be found at:

https://www.jewishdatabank.org/content/upload/bjdb/715/jewish-american-full-report-for-web.pdf

Chapter 13

Note 30

Steven M. Cohen, Jacob B. Ukeles, and Ron Miller, Jewish Community Study of New York: 2011 (New York: UJA-Federation of New York, 2012), 145, 149

Can be found at:

https://www.jewishdatabank.org/content/upload/bjdb/597/C-NY-New_York-2011-Main_Report.pdf

Note 32

Pew Research Center, A Portrait of Jewish Americans (Washington, DC: Pew Research Center’s Religions and Public Life Project, 2013), 51-52

Can be found at:

https://www.jewishdatabank.org/content/upload/bjdb/715/jewish-american-full-report-for-web.pdf

Chapter 15

Note 15

Arnold Dashefsky, Intermarriage and Jewish Journeys (Boston: National Center for Jewish Policy Studies at Hebrew College, 2008), 30–31

Can be found at:

https://www.jewishdatabank.org/content/upload/bjdb/563/N_2008_Intermarriage_and_Jewish_Journeys_in_the_United_States_Main_Report.pdf

Chapter 16

Note 1

Pew Research Center, A Portrait of Jewish Americans (Washington, DC: Pew Research Center’s Religions and Public Life Project, 2013), 10

Can be found at:

https://www.jewishdatabank.org/content/upload/bjdb/715/jewish-american-full-report-for-web.pdf

Note 27

“Should Efforts Be Made to Draw Interfaith Couples into the Jewish Community?” Jerusalem Report, December 16, 2002, 56, is no longer available at https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-10029353.html. The article is reprinted at http://www.edmundcase.com/media/essays/810-2/.

Road Map Three

Note 1

Steven M. Cohen, Jacob B. Ukeles, and Ron Miller, Jewish Community Study of New York: 2011 (New York: UJA-Federation of New York, 2012), 249

Can be found at:

https://www.jewishdatabank.org/content/upload/bjdb/597/C-NY-New_York-2011-Main_Report.pdf

Chapter 21

Note 5

Steven M. Cohen, Jacob B. Ukeles, and Ron Miller, Jewish Community Study of New York: 2011 (New York: UJA-Federation of New York, 2012), 28

Can be found at:

https://www.jewishdatabank.org/content/upload/bjdb/597/C-NY-New_York-2011-Main_Report.pdf