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Encourage Interfaith Jewish Journeys Debate - Page 1
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| Join Our Debate! |
Author: InterfaithFamily.com Editor (---.home.net)
Date: 10-31-00 13:21
Do you think the Jewish community is doing enough to encourage the participation of interfaith families? Are you in favor of more inclusiveness, as Ed Case argues, or the more cautious approach of Elliot Abrams? What do you think of Rachel Cowan's views? We'd like to know what YOU think! |
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| Proactive conversion |
Author: InterfaithFamily.com Editor (---.home.net)
Date: 11-30-00 16:05
What do you think about Gary Tobin's proactive conversion approach? Do you think encouraging conversion is a good idea? Do you think it will turn people away rather than bring people in? |
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| Inclusiveness |
Author: Sgpdance (---.dsl.lsan03.pacbell.net)
Date: 05-02-01 01:32
I would like to see more inclusiveness. I am feeling very alienated not by my family but by the community at large. I was married to two Jewish men both ending in a disaster for me financially and emotionally. Are there any groups for myself as I am in an intermarriage now? I live in Southern California and would like to connect with others like myself |
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Author: Joe (---.proxy.aol.com)
Date: 05-12-01 21:42
About the actual article:
The author complains about the attitude of a lot of people with two Jewish parents. Well since synagogues can't kick them out I'd say the ball is in her court. There will always be such attitudes as long as intermarriage is seen as violating Halacha..
And as for what rabbis say in their sermons. Even if they said nothing what would happen when the portion of the Torah instructing Jews not to marry their sons to gentile women comes around? Would you respect a rabbi who upon finding out that a large number of his congregants liked to eat treif would change his sermons?
No one is forcing her to do anything including attending synagogue. If she feels uncomfortable there well... |
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| About the actual article... |
Author: Charlotte Honigman-Smith (---.proxy.aol.com)
Date: 05-13-01 16:38
As the author: I am not 'complaining about the attitude of Jews with two Jewish parents', I'm challenging the invisibility of the interfaith family.
I certainly don't want people whose attitudes I don't like kicked out of synagogue. Would you like to explain why you feel that I should stay away from synagogue myself if I don't like the opinions of every last person there? I attend shul because I'm a Jew. Is it written somewhere that I have to agree with everyone I daven with?
B'shalom,
Charlotte |
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| Joe's Comments |
Author: Len (---.dnvr.uswest.net)
Date: 05-14-01 16:53
Joe,
Perhaps we can take this to another forum but I disagree that the intermarriage prohibition is cut and dry in Torah and Judaism. Therefor, some rabbis may not find it such a problem that their congregants are intermarrying. |
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| RE: "An Acquired Taste |
Author: Benjamin (---.tx.us.prserv.net)
Date: 06-14-01 20:17
Stuart Schoffman's "An Acquired Taste" is perhaps just a wee bit biased?
As someone who grew up in the Reform movement, I fully recognize that it is a different movement from 20 years ago, and one far more centered on Jewish spirituality and Jewish texts than in the past. Although the Reform movement would never admit it, by becoming more traditional, they actually have moved closer to their Conservative and Orthodox counterparts.
But Mr. Schoffman certainly sees what he wants to see. Like the Bat Mitzvah girl in his article, I too chanted my Torah portion "with consummate poise and expertise" at my Bar Mitzvah. Had Mr. Schoffman been there, he would no doubt have been lavishing praise on the Reform movement, blind to the fact that I had learned my portion by rote, had very little real Hebrew fluency or Jewish knowledge, and had to play major catch-up in this area as an adult, when it was much harder.
Mr. Schoffman gushes about the girl's mother being a convert. Perhaps he is not aware that in Judaism, we are not supposed to single people out as converts, because that would be treating them differently from born Jews. And perhaps Mr. Schoffman is blind to the fact that Conservative and Orthodox Judaism both have no shortage of converts, even though the conversion requirements are more rigorous.
But what is most disturbing about the article, even more than it's shallow, self-serving tone, is its appearance on this web site! I thought this web site was supposed to be about supporting interfaith families in their Jewish journeys, no matter what movement they choose to journey in. An article extoling the virtues of Reform Judaism and criticizing Orthodox Judaism, and having only a tangential reference to an interfaith marriage, really has no place here. The interfaith issue is complex enough already; can we please not muddy the waters further? |
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| Ignore, this is just a test. |
Author: IFF editor (---.ne.mediaone.net)
Date: 12-18-01 10:51
Ignore, this is just a test. |
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| software test |
Author: Ronnie (---.proxy.aol.com)
Date: 02-14-02 11:41
ignore |
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| Please-Not in My Name! |
Author: Benjamin (---.rasserver.net)
Date: 03-05-02 21:33
The question posed for discussion on this board was "What do you think the new InterfaithFamily.com Network should do as the "voice of interfaith families?"
First, as an intermarried Jew with a child who we are raising as a Jew (so I would assume my view counts as one of an insider, even if it is not in line with this site's conventional wisdom), I would say that you should not assume that you are THE "voice of interfaith famlies", unless you don't think it is an issue that you have been self-appointed to that role. Although the general outlook of InterfaithFamily.com certainly does represent the views of a segment of the intermarried community and that segment should be represented and those voices heard, it by no means represents the community as a whole.
The interfaith community is quite varied in its outlook, beliefs, theology, and views on intermarriage. Although all of us want some level of acceptance, don't like being judged, etc., more than a few of us recognize that intermarriage as a whole may not be the ideal thing for the Jewish people (as opposed to us personally) and are not seeking some sort of validation of our own personal life choices from Jewish leaders. Many of us who are intermarried, although we might have liked having a Rabbi at our wedding, respect both the theological and philosophical reasons why most Rabbis won't perform intermarriages. Not all of us are seeking advocates to change that. And many of us have non-Jewish spouses who completely understand and respect (and expect) the boundaries that define their level of participation in a synagogue, just as they expect their Jewish spouses to respect the boundaries that churches have.
I think the important thing in determining to what extent InterfaithFamily.com can "claim" to speak for the intermarried community is the fact that it will now be a membership organization. This means that, like any other membership organization, it can claim to speak only for its members. It can't speak for those who opt not to join. To make an analogy, Rabbi Eric Yoffie can speak without reservation on behalf of the entire Reform movement, which includes all affiliated Reform Jews. He has been elected to that position and all of the synagogues within the Reform movement pay dues to be a part of the movement. So they have opted in and therefore have, as one of the benefits of membership, Rabbi Yoffie's representation. Obviously, Rabbi Yoffie cannot and would not claim to speak for synagogues that are not within the Reform movement. And if Rabbi Yoffie expressed views that did not represent his movement, he could be held accountable.
Similarly, InterfaithFamily.com can now claim to speak for however many members they actually have. If it turns out that they get a few hundred thousand members, then they should feel free to say they speak for a large part of the intermarried community. But if they reach their goal of 2,500 members (or just 20 members currently, as reported in the Forward article elsewhere on this site), then they really can credibly only claim to speak for those who have chosen to be represented. It's not fair to claim to speak for those who haven't joined because they cannot opt out if they don't like the representation since they never opted in in the first place.
I don't expect that my views will change anything. I'm sure InterfaithFamily.com will continue to claim to be THE voice of the intermarried community, no matter what other views are expressed by intermarrieds themselves. My views here may not even necessarily be welcome by the editors. But I think it is important that they know that other views exist out there in the intermarried community, views that are credible and borne of our own experiences being intermarried; and so they don't speak for all of us, whether they claim to or not. |
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| No group speaks for all members |
Author: Sylvia (---.bluebird.ibm.com)
Date: 03-08-02 16:21
I think Benjamin has an important point. No one group can call itself the voice of such a large segment of the Jewish community - intermarried couples. I know many intermarried couples and they all have diverse views, some of which are not particularly liked by the editors of this website. Just because one founds a group and gets a lot of money from a couple of individuals doesn't make them a voice for anyone. I would like to see how many members they actually do get.
And please don't tell me that Eric Yoffie is the voice of all Reform Jews! I belong to a Reform temple and pay temple dues. No one has ever given me the choice to opt out of paying dues to the UAHC, which I would do if I could. Many of their views are very different from mine. I was never given the choice of voting for Rabbi Yoffie or for anyone else. The whole point of the Reform movement is that we all can make our own choices. So when Yofffie gives one of his speeches against school choice, all I can do is grit my teeth and try to ignore him.
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In modern Jewish practice, Jewish boys come of age at 13. When a boy comes of age, he is officially a Bar Mitzvah ("son of the commandments"). The term is commonly used as a short-hand for the Bar Mitzvah\'s coming-of-age ceremony and/or celebration. The female equivalent is "Bat Mitzvah."
In modern Jewish practice, Jewish girls come of age at 12 or 13. When a girl comes of age, she is officially a Bat Mitzvah (\'daughter of the commandments\'). The term is commonly used as a short-hand for the Bat Mitzvah\'s coming-of-age ceremony and/or celebration. The male equivalent is "Bar Mitzvah."
Jewish law, as interpreted by the rabbis.
The language of Judaism. Used in prayer in most synagogues and the official language of the state of Israel. Also refers to Jews, especially before they entered Israel and were given the Torah, as in "the ancient Hebrews."
"Synagogue" in Yiddish.
Place of Jewish worship. Same as synagogue.
The first five books of the Hebrew Bible, or the scroll that contains them.
One of 54 sections of the Torah read in order on a weekly basis throughout the year.
Prohibited by Jewish dietary laws (kashrut). Common treif foods include shellfish and pig products (ham, bacon, etc.). Also, food or meals that combine milk and meat products are treif.
Pray, in Yiddish.
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