Countless sermons have been wasted on this topic, and its specter has launched numerous fund-raising campaigns for institutions that usually have little clue on how to creatively adapt to a changing community.As a result, many of our Jewish leaders and even major philanthropists are finding that their grandchildren are not necessarily being raised Jewishly.In the Talmud, interfaith marriage is completely prohibited, although the definition of interfaith is not so simply expressed.
My 22-year old college-graduate daughter has been dating a Catholic boy, also a college graduate since they met in high school.
He’s a nice boy, and on a personal level, I like him very much, which I’ve told both him and her.
However, I just can’t accept the fact that he isn’t Jewish.
It’s not that he’s unfit to be with her; he’s of fine character.
The principle is essentially a general one, and the deuteronomic explanation doesn't clarify why it singles out the Canaanites in particular; one of the Talmudic writers took it to forbid all intermarriage with non-Jewish nations.
with a Midianite woman (not from the seven Canaanite nations); this took place at a time when foreign (Moabite) women were inducing the Jews to perform idolatry.
But not every interfaith marriage is a threat to Jewish continuity.
My wife, who is a rabbi, generally does not officiate at interfaith weddings.
But when a widowed Holocaust survivor and close friend of ours wanted to marry another close friend, my wife was supportive; clearly they were not going to have any children. Holding the Jewish community's line on not performing interfaith marriages or the happiness of this couple?