A majority of the interfaith families that I know have done a fantastic job raising their children in a Jewish household. If an interfaith marriage is approached correctly (and by correctly, I mean they establish a Jewish household- which is correct in my mind), it can be a great way to teach diversity and acceptance.
The URJ (Union for Reform Judaism) has set up an excellent way to reach out to all "minority" groups within Judaism. The URJ Outreach program provides many resources that are necessary to creating a successful interfaith family. "God loves the stranger, providing food and clothing for each one. You too must love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt" (Deuteronomy 10: 18–19). They use this quote from Deuteronomy in order to sum up the mission of the Outreach program. I think that the Outreach program, itself, is a great way of utilizing Jewish ideas and values to welcome those who otherwise would not be welcomed. However, I do find it strange that Hebrew Union College will not accept or ordain students that are in an interfaith relationship. It seems a bit hypocritical to me.
I think I was hesitant when we went into the class discussion about exogamy, mostly because in the past I have been made to feel inferior because of my interfaith family. However, I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome of this discussion. Exogamy is a very sensitive subject and I understand all sides of the argument, but I find it hard to come to any conclusions myself. I think this is something that will change and develop over time. However, I believe that it is important to keep an open mind about exogamy, because there are many successful stories out there.
3 comments:
as i've said in my blog i think intermarriage is a fine way to marry, but i also can't help but thinking that in order for an intermarriage to work successfully one of the partner's religion has to take the back seat. i think intermarriage can be a great way to teach children about diversity and tolerance, but ultimately i really believe that it is extremely important for children to grow up with a stable and dominant religion. i also think that before two people decide to get married they need to commit to raising their kids with one religion which will create stability as well as reduce religiosity complications later in the marriage.
i agree completely, its a shame that one person's religion has to take the backseat- but if a child is raised with two religions it causes a lot of problems and confusion in the future.
When you said you are the successful product of an intermarriage, and then qualified what that means, it brought up something I have not thought about yet. I know so many children who are the products of intermarriage who have "successfully" maintained a Jewish identity. What about those who adopted the identity of the other parent. Obviously we haven't really encountered this because our class is mainly Jewish, but I think it would be interesting to find those individuals and look at their identity. Would they face similar problems, or is how we identify unique to Judaism?
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