November 6, 2016 with Jodi Bromberg published on eJewishPhilanthropy In October 2016, an at-capacity crowd of 300-plus major foundation, federation and organization leaders gathered in Philadelphia at the Interfaith Opportunity Summit: Embracing the New Jewish Reality, the first-ever national convening on the topic of engaging interfaith families in Jewish life and community. The Summit happened
Intermarriage in Britain: Tragedy or Opportunity?
published in eJewishPhilanthropy As a leader in efforts in the United States to engage interfaith families in Jewish life and community, and having considered trying to export those efforts to Britain, I read with great interest the recent report by David Graham of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR), “Jews in couples: Marriage, intermarriage,
The Communal Response to Intermarriage: A Time to Reflect, A Time to Resolve
published on eJewishPhilanthropy As the new year approaches, I’m cleaning out my office (I’m a replaced CEO, now a consultant after hiring a terrific successor for InterfaithFamily), sorting through twenty years’ worth of papers and repeatedly reminded that the Jewish community’s response to intermarriage has differed vastly from its response to all other issues. At
Intermarriage Crossroads?
August 4, 2016 with Jodi Bromberg, CEO, InterfaithFamily published on eJewishPhilanthropy A significant upcoming convening may lay the groundwork for something missing from the liberal Jewish community for the past twenty-five years: concerted action by funders and community leaders to engage more interfaith families in Jewish life and community. InterfaithFamily, in partnership with the Jewish
Naming the Issue
I believe that if engaging interfaith families is going to be a priority, it needs to be called out. It needs to be named. So I’m very attuned to omissions – when I think golden opportunities to refer to engaging interfaith families are missed. Two weeks ago Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the excellent leader of the
A New Phase
I’m excited about a new phase in my professional life, and in the ongoing growth of InterfaithFamily. After founding InterfaithFamily as an independent non-profit in October 2001, and leading it until my able successor Jodi Bromberg took over as CEO in March 2015, and staying on to help as an employee through June 2016 –
Responding to the Intermarriage News
March 2002 Recent weeks have been filled with news and opinion about intermarriage. Unfortunately, important Jewish leaders continue to respond in ways that will discourage interfaith families from engaging in Jewish life. Item: The American Jewish Identity Survey 2001 reports that 51% of Jews are intermarrying; 33% of “core” Jews–those who say Judaism is their
Does “Interfaith” Still Matter?
with Jodi Bromberg published on the Jewish Education and Engagement blog of the Jewish Federations of North America; reprinted with permission We are swimming in an ocean of intermarriage. So, why does “interfaith” still matter? Terminology Interfaith is a big term that to us doesn’t connote anything about religious practice. It doesn’t mean a couple practicing
The Future of Judaism: The Children of Intermarriage
Published in PJ Library’s PROOF Magazine and reprinted with permission. Since the Pew Report more than two years ago, it has been clear that the non-Orthodox Jewish community is increasingly an intermarried community. Seventy-two percent of non-Orthodox Jews who married since 2000 married someone from a different faith background. Half of young Jewish adults have
Will Jews Ever Normalize “Non-Jews” [a Term We Don’t Like to Use] and Marrying Them
I had a very interesting day yesterday. It started with a phone interview with a graduate student in journalism writing a story about Jewish-Muslim relationships. She had a Jewish parent and a Muslim parent herself, and was involved with a group of young Jewish-Muslim couples. She told me that some of them had decided to