Today’s eJewishPhilanthropy Op-ed: What Research Reveals About Interfaith Families’ Feelings of Belonging
For the first time ever, we held this email newsletter beyond the end of the month, so that we could tell you that today, eJewishPhilanthropy published our op-ed, Making Interfaith Families a Valued Part of Jewish Communities.
We’ve been working for many months on a project to gather and review all of the data on interfaith families’ feelings of belonging in a dozen years’ worth of research: two national Pew reports, twenty-six local community studies by the Cohen Center at Brandeis, one quantitative and three qualitative Cohen Center studies of interfaith families, a recent qualitative study led by Tobin Belzer and a recent local community study by Rosov Consulting.
Today’s op-ed summarizes the Center’s detailed paper, What Recent Studies Reveal About Interfaith Family Inclusion. The paper’s conclusions:
- people in interfaith relationships do not feel very connected to or part of the Jewish people or their local Jewish community, and significantly less so than inmarrieds do;
- interfaith families, and partners from different faith backgrounds, want to feel like part of Jewish communities, but instead persistently feel othered and excluded;
- not having many Jewish friends or knowing many people in the Jewish community may contribute to not feeling belonging, and could be countered by extending personal invitations;
- policies that restrict participation contribute to not feeling belonging, and policies around diversity and inclusion being made explicit are a welcoming factor; and
- clear communication that interfaith families are a valued part of the Jewish community is needed to help move interfaith families from othering to belonging.
This was a major effort for the Center and we are grateful to eJewishPhilanthropy for publishing the op-ed and to Rachel Kohn for her careful and helpful editing.
We hope the information contained in the paper will be helpful to everyone who is working to foster more Jewish engagement among interfaith families. We’re very interested in discussing the paper and in your feedback; please contact us at info@cfrij.com
Season Two of Nobody Wants This
There seemed to be a lot of buzz about the show before it was released, but not so much afterwards. My take, in the Times of Israel blogs: What Season Two of Nobody Wants This Gets Right About Interfaith Relationships.
Season two’s messaging is much improved. Most of the negativity about interfaith marriage from the first season is gone. The story throughline, about whether Joanne will convert, illustrates how pressure to do so is counter-productive. It hints at what inclusive attitudes and communities would be like, including that partners from different faith backgrounds should be accepted exactly as they are.
By focusing on conversion, the show misses the opportunity to depict a relationship and community where an interfaith couple, and especially the partner from a different faith background, can find a sense of belonging. Perhaps that will come in season three?
Some articles on the show worth reading:
- ‘Nobody Wants This’ Is Back. So Is Jewish Debate Over Its Depictions in the New York Times
- What the new season of ‘Nobody Wants This’ gets right — and very wrong — about Judaism by Mira Fox for the Forward
- Despite Its Best Efforts, Nobody Wants This Still Seems Stumped by Jewish Women in Time magazine
- I converted to Judaism to marry my boyfriend – an interview with show creator Erin Foster
- We Had Questions After Nobody Wants This Season 2—So We Went to an Actual Rabbi from Vogue, with an interview with Rabbi Angela Buchdahl
- Why Does Season Two of ‘Nobody Wants This’ Feel Less Jewish? from Hey Alma
- Nobody Wants This Season 2 Ending Explained: Does Joanne Decide to Convert? from Netflix
- Your Guide to Netflix’s ‘Nobody Wants This’ Season 2 from Kveller
In other news:
- I was delighted to see that Sheila Katz will be the Chief Jewish Life Officer at JFNA overseeing a portfolio that seeks to engage Jews of all backgrounds including “initiatives supporting multifaith and mixed-heritage families.”
- A nice story from the Forward’s Bintel Brief about interfaith families and Jewish cemeteries; there’s not much new in the article, but it highlights the halachic/non-halachic divide on this issue.
- 18Doors launched its largest B’Yachad cohort yet in Atlanta.
- A nice story in The Conversation by Samira Mehta on interfaith weddings weaving traditions together.
- Another negative story about Israel’s Interior Ministry making life difficult for converts.
- Finally, speaking of pressure to convert – and I try to keep politics out of this newsletter – Vice President Vance seems to have applied some public pressure, then tried to walk it back hoping that his Hindu wife would become Catholic.