Breaking News in Interfaith Jewland

Somehow I wound up on Aish's humor site Jewlarious a couple minutes ago, reading the old Jewish jokes.  Some come with commentary at the bottom, which is actually a pretty cool feature -- did you know, for example, that the Talmud contains a story demonstrating that a rabbi's Talmudic interpretation can outweigh the word of God? 

But then there's this ancient groaner about a nice Jewish girl whose parents give her the Indian name "Sitting Shiva" after she falls in love with a guy from the reservation, and appended at the bottom are a couple hundred words about how humor isn't enough to preserve Judaism from the "terrible toll" of intermarriage.  It's hilariously -- Jewlariously? -- heavy-handed.  And it's such a perfect example of  the kind of conversation-stifling non sequiturs that stand in for actual discussion of intermarriage in so much of the Jewish world.

Sadly, the site's jokes don't have permalinks, but you can find them here: http://jewlarious.com/ 

Rabbi Kerry Olitzky

The message of the study is simple: With a concentration in programs for the intermarried, a Federation supporting the efforts, and a plethora of Jewish communal activities, intermarried parents will choose to raise their children as Jews. The Boston study concluded that almost 60% of the children raised in intermarried families are being raised as Jews. This compares to what the NJPS claims as 33%. While we believe that the NJPS numbers are flawed, and this methodology is much more robust, the national figures are probably much higher than 33%. In any case, 60% is significantly higher and actually leads to growth in the Jewish community—as it seems to be doing in Boston.

While the authors were careful not to make any future prognostication, it is clear that the number of intermarried families will soon outnumber in-married families in the Boston area as they are beginning to do so in other areas as well. The San Francisco study was the first to do so in its most recent study. There is no reason not to believe that other communities will find themselves in the same position in a short period of time. And what is most important is that outreach to the intermarried has proven to be an effective method to grow the Jewish community and does not “encourage” more intermarriage (read: and take them away from the Jewish community)—as our critics claimed it would some years ago. 

The organized Boston Jewish community decided to welcome intermarried families and devote considerable financial resources to intermarriage outreach programs beginning in the late 1970s. Along with San Francisco, it remains one of the best-funded and most-organized community-wide outreach to the intermarried efforts in the country; the growth of the Boston Jewish community reflects the results of their investment. It is time for the rest of the organized Jewish communities throughout North America to follow suit. 

For more of our perspective on this study, take a look at our blog at www.joi.org.

More to follow in the days ahead about this study.

Dr. Kerry M. Olitzky

Jewish Outreach Institute