Thanks to all of you who responded to our Passover/Easter survey. The results are in! We just sent out the following press release — let us know what you think of the findings. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Edmund Case, edc@interfaithfamily.com, (617) 581-6805 Interfaith Families Continue To Participate in Secular Easter Activities Without Compromising Their Children’s
A Razzie Award for the Jewish Media?
I’ve been thinking about starting a “Razzie Award” — referring to raspberries, referring to the negative sound of “blowing a raspberry,” sort of like “worst of” awards — for the Jewish media. The latest contender would be “Branding Judaism” by Mayrav Saar in Orange County Jewish Life. What particularly bothers me about this one is
Israel Doesn’t Want Reform Converts?
There is a very powerful op-ed in the New York Jewish Week today, Israel Doesn’t Want a Reform Convert Like Me by Rabbi Heidi Hoover who serves as rabbi of Temple Beth Emeth v’Ohr Progressive Shaari Zedek in Brooklyn. Jewish status in Israel is controlled by the Chief Rabbinate, and conversions by non-Orthodox rabbis –
Are Attitudes Towards Intermarriage Changing, Revisited
Almost three years ago, in April 2010, I complimented the Forward’s Editor-at-Large, for an essay he wrote about a family member’s bar mitzvah at a Conservative synagogue. I said then, It is heartening to me for a thought leader of J.J. Goldberg’s stature to say that it felt natural and necessary for a non-Jewish parent
A New Year to Engage Interfaith Families in Jewish Life
September 28, 2012 The Jewish New Year begins with headlines from the New York Jewish Community Study of 2011. First, there is a huge amount of intermarriage, and it is continuing. Second, while the intermarried are generally disengaged from Jewish life and community, those that are engaged demonstrate attitudes and behaviors comparable to the in-married.
What Draws Interfaith Families to Jewish Life
I’m pleased to report that the New York Jewish Week has published my op-ed, What Draws Interfaith Families to Jewish Life. A considerably longer version is on the Huffington Post, A New Year To Engage Interfaith Families in Jewish Life. Having just come off Yom Kippur’s intense period of introspection about the past and the
Rabbi Reverses Interfaith Marriage Policy
The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles has a powerful article today, Rabbi reverses interfaith marriage policy. The article details how Rabbi John Rosove, senior rabbi of Temple Israel of Hollywood, explained in a Rosh Hashanah sermon why he was changing his long-held position and would now officiate at interfaith weddings. “I’ve come to the conclusion
What Our Surveys Say About What Attracts Interfaith Families to Jewish Organizations
There is a great deal of concern in the Jewish world about the degree to which interfaith families are engaged or disengaged in Jewish life and community. A headline of the New York Jewish Community Study of 2011, released in June 2012, was that interfaith families generally score low on that study’s index of Jewish
A Model To Engage Interfaith Families
We’ve just reported on the first full year of the InterfaithFamily/Chicago two-year pilot of our InterfaithFamily/Your Community initiative. You can find the full report here. We are on to something big that can transform the Jewish community’s response to intermarriage in a very significant and positive way. Four years ago a group of leading national
Insights on Engaging Interfaith Families from the NY Community Study
The 2011 Jewish Community Study of New York, released in June 2012, has important findings for all those interested in engaging interfaith families Jewishly. The study confirms that there is a huge amount of intermarriage, and it is continuing. Between 2006 and 2011, one in three non-Orthodox Jews who married, married someone who was not