Making a Successful Jewish Interfaith Marriage
The Jewish Outreach Institute Guide to Opportunities Challenges and Resources
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
Straightforward and non-judgmental advice for dating couples, partners, husbands and wives, in-laws, counsellors and others. Interfaith relationships are commonplace; the challenges that go along with them are not. An interfaith couple will have to confront tough questions, yet it’s often difficult to find answers, especially when traditional sources of help family, friends, clergy and counsellors are unable to understand the problems. From a Jewish perspective, this book guides interfaith couples at any stage of their relationship, from dating and engagement, to the wedding and marriage and the people who are affected by their relationship in any way, including their families and counsellors who work with interfaith couples.
While making no judgement or dictating answers, and supporting individual choice, topics cover include:
What is an intermarriage?
Why do people intermarry?
When do you bring up the subject of religion?
What is conversion and is is necessary?
When do you discuss and decide how children will be raised?
And much more…
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"Out of three million Jewish households, there are one million intermarried households in the United States. This is the reality of contemporary Jewish life," says Rabbi Olitzky. But for Olitzky, a popular author of several books on Jewish spirituality and practice, such statistics offer glimpses of opportunity, not reasons to mourn. He and Littman "do not see a million people who have married out; instead, we see the potential of a million married people who have chosen to marry into the Jewish community." They issue a clarion call for interfaith couples to be lovingly embraced by rabbis, synagogues and Hebrew schools not judged or pitied. This guide is chock-full of advice, personal stories and resources for interfaith couples, usually Jewish-Christian but also including a few examples of other pairings. Olitzky begins by encouraging couples to get to know each other's religious backgrounds and expectations right away; he also provides counsel for breaking the ice with potential in-laws. Other chapters deal with holidays and life-cycle events, stressing the importance of communication and priorities at these important times. Olitzky, true to the form of his earlier books, also includes a lovely chapter on "nurturing the Jewish spirit and soul," building one's own spiritual strength through ritual, study and prayer. The book closes with consideration of special circumstances, such as marrying later in life, marrying across racial as well as religious lines or the additional challenges of gay and lesbian unions. This is a fine and practical resource for interfaith couples.
