Comments on: Is Judaism Becoming a Girls’ Club? http://www.InterfaithFamily.com/blogs/Network/musings/is-judaism-becoming-a-girls-club/ Everything you always wanted to know about intermarriage, but were afraid to ask. Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:02:54 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 By: h. http://www.InterfaithFamily.com/blogs/Network/musings/is-judaism-becoming-a-girls-club/#comment-290 h. Wed, 23 Jan 2008 20:01:23 +0000 http://www.InterfaithFamily.com/blogs/Network/musings/is-judaism-becoming-a-girls-club/#comment-290 women are commonly more involved in religious life than men. it's the women who create the homelife and it's the women who give birth to the next generation. if a Jewish woman intermarries, her children will be halachically Jewish even by Orthodox standards. but how they are raised poses an entirely different question. while it's not entirely impossible for children of intermarriage to be raised as Jews if only the father is Jewish, it seems more likely that they will be raised Jewish if the mother is Jewish. drawing upon my own personal experiences, involvement or affilation with Jewish life has generally been off balance when it comes to gender. throughout all my years of Day School education (kindergarten through 9th grade, then switched to public school due to personal reasons), the boys always outnumbered the girls. yet on a recent trip to Israel with Birthright, it was the other way around. i also want to point out that participants in my group from in-married families were the minority and those from interfaith or conversionary families ranked in the majority. so the theory that people from interfaith backgrounds or in interfaith relationships (as there were a few in my group that had non-Jewish significant others back at home) have little to no attachment to Israel isn't exactly accurate. i have a mixed circle of friends, but most of my female friends are Jewish. a large quantity of my Jewish friends grew up Reform or Conservative. the majority come from in-married families, but there are a few from interfaith or conversionary households. all of my Jewish friends were Bar or Bat Mitzvah'ed, had some form of Jewish education growing up, attended shul on the major holidays, and participated in youth groups like USY or NFTY or attended Hillel events in college. only a handful have been to Israel and hardly any keep kosher. none are Shabbat observant. only a small percentage actually remember how to read, write, or speak Hebrew (i'm one of them). as far as dating/marriage is concerned, there is less interest in dating/marrying other Jews among the females. the males would prefer to meet Jewish women, but don't place it as the number one criteria when seeking a partner. of those involved in relationships, only two are with other Jews. the rest are with non-Jews or are single. parental opinions on interdating/intermarriage range from non-negotiable (unless conversion is involved) to being more concerned with personal happiness and success. women are commonly more involved in religious life than men. it’s the women who create the homelife and it’s the women who give birth to the next generation. if a Jewish woman intermarries, her children will be halachically Jewish even by Orthodox standards. but how they are raised poses an entirely different question. while it’s not entirely impossible for children of intermarriage to be raised as Jews if only the father is Jewish, it seems more likely that they will be raised Jewish if the mother is Jewish.

drawing upon my own personal experiences, involvement or affilation with Jewish life has generally been off balance when it comes to gender. throughout all my years of Day School education (kindergarten through 9th grade, then switched to public school due to personal reasons), the boys always outnumbered the girls. yet on a recent trip to Israel with Birthright, it was the other way around. i also want to point out that participants in my group from in-married families were the minority and those from interfaith or conversionary families ranked in the majority. so the theory that people from interfaith backgrounds or in interfaith relationships (as there were a few in my group that had non-Jewish significant others back at home) have little to no attachment to Israel isn’t exactly accurate.

i have a mixed circle of friends, but most of my female friends are Jewish. a large quantity of my Jewish friends grew up Reform or Conservative. the majority come from in-married families, but there are a few from interfaith or conversionary households. all of my Jewish friends were Bar or Bat Mitzvah’ed, had some form of Jewish education growing up, attended shul on the major holidays, and participated in youth groups like USY or NFTY or attended Hillel events in college. only a handful have been to Israel and hardly any keep kosher. none are Shabbat observant. only a small percentage actually remember how to read, write, or speak Hebrew (i’m one of them). as far as dating/marriage is concerned, there is less interest in dating/marrying other Jews among the females. the males would prefer to meet Jewish women, but don’t place it as the number one criteria when seeking a partner. of those involved in relationships, only two are with other Jews. the rest are with non-Jews or are single. parental opinions on interdating/intermarriage range from non-negotiable (unless conversion is involved) to being more concerned with personal happiness and success.

]]> By: Dave http://www.InterfaithFamily.com/blogs/Network/musings/is-judaism-becoming-a-girls-club/#comment-275 Dave Sun, 13 Jan 2008 16:44:30 +0000 http://www.InterfaithFamily.com/blogs/Network/musings/is-judaism-becoming-a-girls-club/#comment-275 1/ Females are more spiritual than males so unless males are in charge any religious group will become overwhelmingly female. 2/ 'Moving Traditions' beliefs that boys are just slightly more masculine girls won't help. 3/ The de-Maccabeeing of Chanukah doesn't help. Do any JCC's have boxing/MMA programs? How many temples and synangogues have any connection with the Betar movement? 4/ Does Brandeis have an ROTC program? Instead of its Cohen Center doing studies maybe it should advocate for an ROTC program at Brandeis. 4/ Yet again this is an issue that the ultra-Orthodox don't have. 1/ Females are more spiritual than males so unless males are in charge any religious group will become overwhelmingly female.

2/ ‘Moving Traditions’ beliefs that boys are just slightly more masculine girls won’t help.

3/ The de-Maccabeeing of Chanukah doesn’t help. Do any JCC’s have boxing/MMA programs? How many temples and synangogues have any connection with the Betar movement?

4/ Does Brandeis have an ROTC program? Instead of its Cohen Center doing studies maybe it should advocate for an ROTC program at Brandeis.

4/ Yet again this is an issue that the ultra-Orthodox don’t have.

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