Reply #17: What a hypocrite! Intermarriage is a sensitive issue [View All]

[IndianaGreen]

Assimilation is the greatest threat that we face in the Diaspora. Intermarriage is a sensitive issue in Judaism. Rabbis would normally won't marry a Jew to a non-Jew unless the non-Jew has converted.

In recent years, while attitudes have changed as intermarriage has become more common, many question whether it contributes to the increasing assimilation, loss of Jewishness, in the American Jewish community.

There are no standard or easy answers. I am more of a traditionalist, and I count myself among those that think that conversion must precede marriage between a Jew and a non-Jew.

Howard Dean is a Congregationalist, yet he married a nice Jewish doctor, and they raised their children in the Jewish tradition (the children are Jewish as a matter of Jewish law).