Finally, someone in authority in the Jewish faith has realized that if you can’t beat them, you should at least let them join you. 

A Reform Jewish task force on intermarriage said Monday that the movement should do more to encourage mixed-faith couples to be active in Jewish life, including creating special blessings for major life events such as weddings and funerals, according to reports. 

No changes on Reform Judaism’s stand on officiating at interfaith weddings were proposed, the story notes. Reform Judaism, like Reconstructionist Judaism, formally opposes the practice but allows each rabbi to decide. The Conservative and Orthodox movements don’t permit rabbis to preside at interfaith weddings. 

Instead, the report reveals, the panel proposed including educating rabbis on how they can engage intermarried families, and creating blessings for ceremonies that involve a non-Jewish spouse. 

So, after a two-year study, task force leaders decided to stop trying to prevent intermarriage – obviously a losing battle – and instead encourage mixed-faith couples to create Jewish homes. Eventually, if the cards are played right, this could lead to the non-Jewish spouse formally converting. And at the very least, it will lead to the children identifying themselves as Jews, which is enormously important to one of the world’s smallest and most set-upon minority groups. 

But it doesn’t go far enough, in my opinion. Something also must be done to count those whose fathers are Jewish as Jews.

For centuries, Jewishness has been passed on and recognized only through the mother, but I think we lose way too many families that way. 

The intermarriage rate for U.S. Jews has been above 40 percent since at least the 1990s. Slowing the trend has become a major concern of the Jewish community, according to the report. 

I think that rather than take an exclusionary stance, the Jewish faith’s heirarchy should better reflect the Jewish people’s more welcoming, inclusionary attitude. Besides, the more Jews there are, presumably, the fewer anti-Semites. 

 

Have PoliticalMavens.com delivered to your inbox in a daily digest by clicking here