Move over Jewish day schools. There’s a new intermarriage panacea in town, and its name is Birthright Israel.
A just-released study from a research team at Brandeis University led by Leonard Saxe found that 72% of married, non-Orthodox Birthright Israel participants have wedded fellow Jews, compared to just 46% of their peers who did not go on the trip.
For a community desperately seeking an intermarriage preventative, this is gold. Not only does Birthright appear to work, but it only takes 10 days, and it costs far less per person than tuition at a Jewish day school.
Young Jews are standing by right now who want to take a Birthright trip but have been waitlisted because there are not enough resources to send them all. So why shouldn’t the program fundraise around the headlines generated by this study, i.e. “Birthright Israel prevents intermarriage”?
Over the years, Saxe and his team of researchers have been at the forefront of painting a more nuanced sociological portrait of intermarried families and their children. In this new report, too, there is nuance beyond the headlines: The researchers quote Birthright participants from intermarried households, and show findings that include the increased desire to raise Jewish children among all participants, including children of intermarriage. In-marriage is seen as a measurement of increased Jewish identity, a byproduct of success and not the end itself.
That nuanced view, however, did not seem to be shared by all who spoke at the report’s unveiling to the assembled luminaries of Jewish philanthropy on October 26 at Brandeis House in New York. Steven Cohen of Hebrew Union College, who was not involved in the study, described the Jewish future as “a race between Birthright and intermarriage.” Overall, there was a sense that we have finally figured out how to put the intermarriage genie back in the bottle.
But the notion that we can somehow make intermarriage go away, or at least make it numerically insignificant, reflects a failure to grasp the magnitude of the phenomenon. And that failure begins with the way we look at intermarriage statistics.
There are always two numbers to look at regarding intermarriage: the percent of Jews who are intermarrying (the “individual rate”), and what the results of those marriages mean in terms of actual households created (the “couples rate”).
Imagine there are only four Jews in America, Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice. Let’s say that Bob and Carol intermarry and Ted and Alice in-marry. Since two of the four Jews intermarried, the “individual” intermarriage rate is 50%. But how many couples were created? Bob and Carol both married non-Jews, creating two households. But Ted and Alice married each other, because an in-marriage requires two Jews, which creates just one household. The result is three households total, with two intermarried and one in-married, or an intermarried couples proportion of two-thirds.
When intermarriage is explained as “almost half the Jews are intermarrying” — in other words, just offering the individual rate for what’s been happening in the United States for the past quarter-century — the word “half,” as huge as that may seem, actually serves to mask the results. The reality on the ground is that nearly double the number of intermarried households has been created compared to in-married households.
Telling half the story on intermarriage was particularly evident in our communal discussion of the 2000-01 National Jewish Population Survey, which reported an individual intermarriage rate of 47%. Largely ignored was the result of that rate, which was that the total number of intermarried couples was increasing faster than in-married couples, and had drawn nearly even. By now, almost a decade later, there are undoubtedly more intermarried than in-married households in the United States, and more children below the age of 18 who were born to intermarried than in-married parents.
There is no question that the 28% (individual) intermarriage rate among Birthright Israel alumni is remarkably low. But armed with an understanding of the couples’ rate, we can recognize that even if Birthright is miraculously able to bring the entire national intermarriage rate down to 28%, it would still mean nearly as many intermarried households created as in-married households, at a ratio of seven intermarried for every nine in-married households created (a 44% intermarried couples rate). That is hardly a “cure” for intermarriage.
Whether by design or not, Birthright Israel is the largest, most successful outreach program to young-adult children of intermarriage, having reached tens of thousands of such individuals. The program deserves increased financial support. But an effort to sell Birthright to funders around the idea that it prevents intermarriage would be disastrous, potentially alienating the very people who benefit most from the program.
Unfortunately, the focus on Birthright participants’ low intermarriage rate reignites our collective tendency toward insularity, the temptation to try to create a closed community. The real cure for 21st-century Judaism is to move beyond ethnic definitions and open our tradition, culture and learning to all who would find meaning and value in joining us.
Paul Golin is associate executive director of the Jewish Outreach Institute.
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Birthright is an outstanding program, but it is not the panacea for intermarriage. People who go on birthright have a tendency to have some degree of religious or Zionist committment. Many seek marriage with a Jewish partner only. I am certain that the trip itself re-enforces and strengthen previous committments and beliefs.
I don't think that Rabbi Rosenberg is entirely right. While indeed many of the Jews assisting to birthright were already committed to the Zionist cause, most of the people I know that did the trip had never been to Israel before, and had little contact with their roots. Brithright definitely helped them to understand more about what means to be a Jew, and some of started relationships, and still maintain (I mean romantic ones..i apologize for the bad english, I'm Argentinean).
I still didn't have the pleasure to go to Israel, hopefully this will be my year, and then I'll be able to give better info...
This article confuses correlation with causality, a very basic but common mistake when interpreting statistics.
The article assumes that Birthright is what is causing these young Jews to marry other Jews. But the fact that there is correlation (Jews who do Birthright tours frequently marry other Jews) does NOT necessarily imply causality.
Rather, it is almost certainly true that the youngsters who participate in Birthright in the first place are those who have a high degree of commitment to Judaism and to Israel, and that it is this commitment, rather than Birthright itself, that leads them to marry other Jews.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_does_not_imply_causation
Tzvi and I agree. Cause and effect are being misunderstood. I do agree with Martin that some who go on birthright had very little background and were greatly encouraged to continue their search for their religion and Israel.I repeat. Birthright is a marvelous experience and must be encouraged and supported. I hope that some meet their "beshert" through birthright.
I would disagree strongly with the notion Tzvi suggests that
"Rather, it is almost certainly true that the youngsters who participate in Birthright in the first place are those who have a high degree of commitment to Judaism and to Israel, and that it is this commitment, rather than Birthright itself, that leads them to marry other Jews."
As a coordinator of Birthright programs, the vast majority of participants come with little or no experience or commitment with Judaism and Israel. They are too often coming as disenfranchised, cynical and un-aware participants who have heard about the experience, and an awakening occurs as a surprise.. Categorically i can attest that they are not coming committed. They are coming often as blank slates dating non-jews and not connected. WE regularly see the transformation from this place after the 10 days.
What's wrong with intermarriage?
Several of my cousins married non-Jews. They're good, hard-working intelligent people. And they're all raising their children as Jews, with Bar Mitzvas and Bas Mitzvas.
As a community, we MUST stop assuming that intermarriage=disaffiliation. It is quite simply not true. Perhaps it is true that intermarried households have lower rates of Jewish affiliation than in-married ones (or perhaps not). But having studied the sciences in college, I argue that this is more like quantum physics than simplistic statistics. The way in which we view, measure and analyze the issue of intermarriage actually INFLUENCES THE OUTCOME.
Having grown up in an interfaith household, I very clearly got the message that my family, and there for I, was not welcome in the Jewish community. This message was backed up with all sorts of statistical evidence that we would be less Jewish, somehow. My experience was certainly not unique, especially for families in the 1970's. No wonder so many choose not to be a part of a community that slams doors in their faces! Who can blame them?
Instead of leaving Judaism altogther, I have chosen to change it from within. I have dedicated my working life to sending the message that there is opportunity here! Judaism has something to offer! As we work to welcome interfaith families into the Jewish community, we can affect the outcome!
The "correlation is not causation" point raised by Zvi is generally a sensible injunction when reading social scientific research. However, as an author of the report, I must point out that considerably more than correlation was involved, as the research was specifically designed to account for threats to internal validity (i.e. alternate explanations of the results of Taglit-Birthright Israel). The study compared Birthright participants to people who had applied to go on Birthright Israel but were unable to go, typically because there was no space (Birthright has always been oversubscribed) or because the applicant was offered a trip at an undesirable date. In other words, we compared people who were very interested in the program and were able to go with people who were very interested in the program but were unable to go (people who applied but were ineligible to participate were not surveyed). In addition, we examined the characteristics of the Birthright participants and Birthright applicants who were unable to go that we surveyed: there were no significant differences between the groups with respect to levels of Jewish education, the degree of ritual observance in the household they grew up, and the proportion with intermarried parents. (The only significant differences between participants and nonparticipants were with respect to age the time of trip and age at the time of the survey.) While it is impossible to entirely rule out the possibility of some additional source of difference between participants and nonparticipants that might explain the group differences, the random nature of the process that applicants were or were not given a place and the fact that participants and applicant nonparticipants looked very much alike on the important predictors of Jewish behavior, greatly enhances our confidence that the reported results are actually a result of the trip, and not some other factor.
Interested readers should see the report itself, with its description of the research methods used:
http://www.brandeis.edu/cmjs/pdfs/Taglit.GBI.10.22.09.final.pdf
I couldn't agree more with Mira Colflesh. I am an inter married Jewish person who has tried to raise a family of 4 children within the Jewish faith. My wife has always felt alienated by the congregation’s Jewish population, yet she stuck with the adherence because of a sense of believing in the Jewish perspective of the world and the holy.
Be happy with those instances where new people are brought into the Jewish faith and rejoice in their desire to embrace our religion. Intermarriage could well become the remedy to our foolish aversion to conversion and evangelical efforts to increase the ranks our religion. So many of my non Jewish friends are as baffled as I am as to why the Jewish authorities make it so difficult to join our faith. It is, in my opinion, highly counter productive to our survival and security.
Intermarriage is not good for the Jewish community. Intermarriage = less Jews. Judaism doesn't have to change for anyone. If you want a Jewish family than marry another Jew. If you want an interfaith family than marry a Gentile.
Why does anyone in the Jewish community pay attention to what Paul Golin says? He and his group Joi are radically pro-intermarriage. There goal is to have all Jews marry Gentiles. They want Judaism to become another branch of Christianity. Their aversion to groups, like Birthright, that promote Jewish pride and inmarriage, shows the hatred that they have toward Judaism. Paul and Joi are anti-semites plain and simple.
The saddest aspect of the above article is perhaps the most trivial detail therein: the random choice of four names ("Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice"). The names are so obviously from the American world. If you would have asked a Hebrew or a Yiddish speaker to give an example of a random Jew, he would have said "Moishe" or "Rivka". A non-Jewish English-speaker would have said "Bob" or "Alice". Names are the first aspect of self-identity. You meet a man who is named Boris or Hans or Diego, and you already know something of his identity. "Bob and Carol, Ted and Alice" as names of random Jews are a different declaration of self-identity. It is a declaration that one does not see oneself first and foremost as a Jew (or one's parents did not wish for their child to be seen first and foremost as a Jew).
The real issue of intermarriage is never discussed. Why is it that throughout Jewish history intermarriage was such a marginal aspect of Jewish life - and today it is so common? In America, the Jewish world in which Jews have their own society, speaking their own language, producing their own culture and social codes has disappeared. Yiddish is gone, the Jewish neighborhood is gone - and the sense of a distinct Jewish peoplehood is gone. The Jews are Americans - they are part of the new American peoplehood. The American language is their language, American history is their history, and American society is their society. A non-Jewish American is not an "outsider", and so intermarriage is no longer strange or uncommon. The source of intermarriage is the disappearance of a Jewish society that stands in its own right.
Intermarriage ultimately will mean the end of Diaspora Jewish life. It's still possible to present intermarriage in a positive light, like Norman who claims that his intermarried cousins are raising Jewish kids. Indeed, Jewish identity persists, even among some of the children of the intermarried. But, let's look at Jewish life beyond the terms of "here and now", beyond the observation of the last two generations. Intermarriage is a fact of life in American Jewry - it will continue unabated into the future. No one can know what the distant future may bring; yet, can anyone really imagine after another 10-15 generations of intermarriage that someone will claim that it wasn't so bad? This attempt to present intermarriage as "not so bad" - instead of presenting the phenomenon as an indication of a community in collapse - reminds me of a silly joke that I heard once upon a time. A man jumps off a very high building. As he passes the 20th floor, someone calls out to him from the window: "How's it going, Moishe?" The falling man answers: "So far, so good!"
A Jewish identity must be recreated in America in which being different is the very essence of Jewishness. Let's start with giving our children names that declare their distinctive identity. Then, let's move on to other urgent goals (Hebrew literacy, for example), with the intention of giving our children an identity that is outside the scope of the American world - an identity that is first and foremost Jewish.
Reuven, "Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice" was the name of a movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064100/ i.e., the author is making a joke.
And I find it stereotyping and borderline racist to suggest you know something about a man's identity just because his name is Boris or Hans or Diego. Why can't Boris, Hans, or Diego be Jewish? Why can't they all be Finnish?
Jewish men in 1940s America used to be named Seymour and Harold and Gerald. There wasn't much intermarriage back then. Maybe we should start naming our kids Marvin again.
I am heartened by the discussion about causation vs. correlation. Far too many discussions assume that intermarriage is the cause of disaffiliation when in reality it is an effect of it. Has anyone ever met someone who was a deeply committed Jew who lost that commitment because he or she intermarried? It is ridiculous! In fact, what happens is the opposite: a person who is Jewish but not deeply committed feels no inhibition about intermarrying.
Thus, the real issue is how to develop commitment to Judaism in the young before marriage is an issue. A little history here: as has been so often pointed out, a prime reason that our ancestors came to America was so that we, their children, could be free. Well, when a person is free, he or she will always choose the option that appears to be of most value to the individual. Thus, the real issue is that American Judaism fails in a large number of cases to convince our young that choosing to practice Judaism is the best thing for them. Not for us, them. That's what it means to say they are free.
It appears that Birthirght is an attempt, maybe the most successful one so far, to convince our young. But over the long haul, I can't see how Birthright is going to convince them to make that choice permanent. Only by providing permanent benefits can we ensure permanent loyalty. The real scandal is how we continue to fail at doing that.
You Don't Get It - Naming the Jewish couples with the name of an American movie is the very same problem: Total immersion into American society and culture. He could have chosen for his example "Abraham and Sarah", "Isaac and Rebecca". But his cultural point of reference is the American cultural experience - not the Jewish cultural experience. Intermarriage, as I have argued, is the result of the loss of being different. The kids were named "Marvin" and "Seymour" in the 40's exactly because the Jewish parents were not willing to name their children Moshe or Shmuel (which were the names of their late grandparents). It was too obviously Jewish - too different. This type of shame in one's heritage and self-identity is an expression of the collapse of Jewish identity. Names are a declaration of identity (or change of identity) - that's a fact of life.
I disagree with the conclusions of the writer. He is against insularity, which is what preserved the Jewish People for so many centuries. It was the conceptual foundation of Modern Orthodoxy that it was possible for an observant Jew to keep his or her faith and mix in the World with other religious groups. That idea was not successfully implemented because with continual exposure and acceptance by the other religious traditions in the United States (including the Muslims, but only those in the United States, and not all of them for that matter), Jewish children became so comfortable with the majority religions that they began to date them and then intermarry. Intermarriage will end the Jewish religious traditions within two generations without any doubt, and incorporating intermarried people within the religious organization of Judaism will destroy Judaism. Any other point of view will result in our elimination as a distinct people.
Maybe you should start naming your kids Norman again.
As the Coordinator of the Half-Jewish Network, the largest organization for adult children of intermarriage, I question the statistics in this study.
In March 2009, Birthright courageously released a report showing that its trips are essentially a failure -- only a very tiny percentage of Birthright trip participants start visiting Jewish communal institutions regularly after they return from the trips.
I thought it was very brave of Birthright to release the report.
Many Jews were shocked, as millions of dollars are spent on Birthright, and it is presented as a cure-all for disaffiliated younger Jews and intermarriage.
Here is the link to that report:
www.brandeis.edu/cmjs/pdfs/comstudy032609.com.pdf
Birthright got a lot of flack for this.
Now Birthright has released a new report based on surveys of people who went on these trips between 2001 and 2004, which claims that the Birthright trips are a success.
The new report claims that people return from the trips as pumped-up Israel advocates, zealous Jews, and avoid intermarriage:
http://ir.brandeis.edu/bitstream/handle/10192/23380/Taglit.GBI.10.22.09.final.pdf?sequence=9
The report claims that children of intermarriage are less likely to intermarry if they go on these trips.
I would expect a large sample of adult children of intermarriage to back up such a major claim.
But I can't find anywhere in the report a figure for the number of children of intermarriage who actually went on these trips.
The only lengthy mention of adult children of intermarriage made me immediately suspicious of the report's claims:
"Participants with intermarried parents were over three times more likely to be married to a Jew than nonparticipants with intermarried parents. Although statistically significant, the estimates for nonparticipants are based on extremely small cell sizes: Among married nonparticipants, of which 14 were intermarried and 5 were inmarried."(page 27).
Let's see -- a total of 21,649 people went on these trips between 2001 and 2004. The study interviewed of these 1,223 participants, who were compared to a smaller population of "nonparticipants."
If the Birthright study features only 19 married nonparticipants who were adult children of intermarriage, there cannot have been very many adult children of intermarriage on these trips at all, certainly not enough to make such a major claim about their marriage trends.
I atttempted to locate the number of children of intermarriage who went on these trips, and was referred by the study to an online appendix located at:
http://www.brandeis.edu/cmjs/researchareas/taglit-evaluation.html
But when you arrive at that link, there is only the report text, not the appendices.
I must respectfully be skeptical of the findings of this report, until I can see actual figures on the adult children of intermarriage who went on these trips.
Sincerely, Robin Margolis www.half-jewish.net www.inclusivistjudaism.wordpress.net
You can have any program mankind can come up with....to keep the line Jewish.....and still you will ......fail! It is G-D who calls his holy children a Jew. A true Jew is not just born of the flesh, for the flesh returns to the grown when death takes them, but nevertheless, the child born of the flesh, who gives up the free will given them by G-D to walk blamless with G-D, in unity, has been brought forth to be called a son of the Living G-D.
For it is written....Job 33....The Spirit of G-D made me(flesh, below, death) but the breath of the Almighty gives me life.( a child is brought forth, birth above, eternal life, a son is born)
With our the declared decree that has been given all of us to turn, and be brought forth---we are just flesh, made by only the Spirit of G-D until the breath of the Almighty when heaven is in union with earth one a child is given up to them.
The mother is very Jewish----the Spirit of G-D, who holds us, her seeds. And remember this a woman does not bring to birth all her seeds.
Birthright is EXCELLENT but it could be made SO MUCH better - in terms of mitigating assimilation - if it had more Jewish content. Not just visit Israeli bars and meet secular soldiers but have some great speakers on Jewish subjects like Aish HaTorah has. We need to increase identification to Judaism and not just to Israel and the the Jewish People. When asked what was their most memorable moment on Birthright - the participants responded that standing at the Western Wall was their number one moment of the trip- why not build on that? I am not saying to decrease those aspects of the trip that foster identification to Israel and the Jewish People what I am saying is that rather than spend a night at an Israeli bar let the participants have experiences that will also turn them on to Judaism and not just to Israel. Then Birthright would be EVEN MORE effective. Get it?
About names having a message: I recommend that Norman, "You Don't Get It", and even our writer (Paul Golin) view the wonderful movie "Hester Street". For those who have never seen the movie, it is a story of the Yiddish-speaking immigrants to the USA at the end of the 19th century. The film portrays the discomfort of being obviously Jewish - of being obviously different - and one of the outstanding expressions of this discomfort is having a Jewish name. I would agree that the loss of "differentness" is the driving force behind intermarriage, and the choice of four names was an unintentional, yet significant, portrayal of the problem of Jewish continuity.
Tzvi Blnn, my friend, I like some of what you said, Aish, is good, and to turn others....is also very good.....but in desire to have truth let them know wisdom...Ps.51 read..
Aish, is always in my prayers, there is were my eyes were open. The love of all people, and unity with G-D is in all their hearts and is the mind set of this group. I pray G-D'S hand will guide them in all that they do for unity. We are to have one breath, the breath of the Almighty, that makes us live, death will not overtake the sons of G-D Most High, the Living G-D. Join me, in praying for unity and Aish to be the tool G-D will use to bring about the unity of all people that desire, what G-D desires for us. "G-D With Us"! His name written on our minds and G-D'S will done in all we do and say, let G-D be the beat of our hearts.
Norman says "And they're all raising their children as Jews with bar mitzvas and bas mitzvas"
The Orthodox and especially the Ultra-Orthodox don't have 'bas mitzvas'. Does that mean they're not raising their children as Jews?
Dave, there is no time line, but then again, like David prayed that he could not change for the better if death took him, so before you die, would be a good thing.
Again the ceremony and rituals are not needed. One needs to be responsible for their morals and repent when they slip. We are to walk in our life time putting sin far from us. Read Ps.101:1-8 this is were David, the man after G-D'S own heart put sin out and even those who walked next to him. I love the orthodox, they do what they do for the love of G-D. Not all they do has to be done, this is were they walk in error and make the walk hard for others. But yet the love is great in them. I pray every day for the Spirit of truth to fall upon all of mankind, to open the eyes of their hearts and minds, to what G-D wants of them.
Bas mitzvas, is found in Ps. 51 When you place upon your heart and mind the desire of G-D for you. That desire, when you light the fire from the heart of G-D to burn in your mind and heart this is your spiritual ceremony between you and G-D. You are saying "Here I am".
Appropriate time, don't lose a mi. The more time you have walking with G-D the better it is for you, and all around you.
It only the world, would have a bas' mitzvas.... If only the world could see how far down we have gone. Better we live in caves or in the ground, then what goes on in homes today.
Lamentations 3...I called on Your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit.
When you turn, G-D'S name is upon you, a child, is given up, a son is born, you stand with the sons of G-D. You are sealed "G-D with us" his name upon your mind, the law in your heart, you become the vessel, that G-D rest upon. You are the two sided tablets, that were rejected through out all our generations. Two sides above and below.
Job 33...The Spirit of G-D made me( flesh, a child of the earth, sin, death) but the breath of the Almighty gives me life. (above, a child is given up, a son is born, the name of their father is upon them, the breath of our Eternal Father, now the goverment of G-D must be done above and below, by the sons of G-D, in all we do and say.)
David speaks of the justice of G-D....Psalm 84...My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the Living G-D. The world and the leaders...do not seek G-D courts.... they act like G-D is dead, or far off.
It is written...Psalm 103...Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name.
What is David's inmost being?? Psalm 51...Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: (heart and mind) and in the hidden part (the dwelling place of our G-D, the Rock, the mountain to the LORD) ....thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
We are birth from the two sides of G-D to be made in G-D'S image---man-----a son of G-D. G-D is both male and female. When we turn we are now seen as the mirror image of our Ahvee.
It is written....Ps. 89..He will call out to me, 'You are my Father, my G-D, the Rock my Savior.'
Our Savior is not a man, or a son of G-D....He is our G-D All Powerful, the Almighty.
For we are saved from death, through the second breath of the Almighty that brings us forth out of our fathershouse and into the house hold of G-D.
The Rock in the Ps.89 above is found in Ps. 118...The Stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.
Many people from all generations turned and had the bas' mitzvas with G-D and their eyes seen the marvelous things G-D pland so long ago for us to turn back, to uncover the lie and deceit we do when we sin.
You know it that self talk...I am not so bad, or their not that bad, they do good in some things....the biggest lie we do is to your selves. One sin brought us down...and ...out. Time we get back in.
Day and night, we pray,....O G-D, the LORD, the strength of my salvation, You have covered my head in the day of battle.
the war is on sin...Ps. 57...I cry out to G-D Most High, to G-D, who fulfills His purpose for me. We are to be all holy priest to the Most High serving Him in all we do and say.
It is written....Exodus 6 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as G-D Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make Myself know to them.
Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If G-D will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on.
Jacob awakened out of a deep sleep, and went through the gate. Becouse the angel let him pass, for sin can not pass through. This gate was none other that the gate of heaven. Read Genesis 28...rest you head on the stone of Jacob, walk in the light of Jacob, turst in G-D for all your needs as Jacob. G-D is the G-D that provides that is what Abraham called him. G-D provided the time the place and the sacrifice for Abraham, and us. The time, a daysss in your life time, the palce your hearts and minds your inward parts, the sacrifice, offer the perfedt gift, the one given you from on high----your free-will----given over to do the will of G-D in all you do and say. Isaac, had his name changed, the name of G-D rest upon him, let His name rest upon you.
Our G-D is the G-D of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who walked in unity with our G-D Most High.
Simply stated, here are the issues: (1) Is Judaism relevant for individuals?, and (2) Does Birthright or any program foster its relevancy? (3) When so, why and how to replicate it? (4) Do we prefer born Jews who don't care or intermarried/any believer who want to care? (5) Isn't the individual's ability to learn and to chose a connection to God thru Judaism important (to the individual and, who knows, to God?) and more than some Jewish "leader", when those "leaders" have failed out people and our God for several generations?
I'd also ask about divorce/remarriage impacts, given the realities of modern America. The metric should be the Birthright participants' own feelings for and practice of Jewish life being heightened due to Birthright trips, measured by individual Birthright participant surveys -- not marriages alone. Intermarriage may be a good thing, if we broaden the gene pool (less Tay-Sachs, more Americans with Jewish relatives, etc); and converts are more passionate than us Born-into-it/forget it types. Judaism is a very American value system -- and a broad one at that. The bad guys hate the USA and Jews (as evidence), just because of who we are -- a proof that our connection to God and good is real. While I think the world of Steinhardt, a Jewish champion is toothless if an atheist -- what is it if it's not a religion?/how to distinguish it from competitors or express its meaning otherwise? Would he send all young humanists (e.g., Seinfeld-watchers, Neil Simon-likers or bagel eaters) to Israel? The good news is he's got one of the very truly good programs out there, the bad news that is the case mostly because most Jewish organizations are irrelevant, except for a meal or two if that's at all meaningful. ajcwerfel@yahoo.com
Mark Werfel my thinking friend To answere part of your questions, One must first define what we mean by Jew. How mankind look at thing first...then G-D view.
The muddled thinking of most people on this subject is due to the fact that they never know just what they do mean by Jew. Sometimes they mean Jew by religion regardless of their race, there are Negro, Chinese, Japanese that have been converted to Judaism, many more from all nations...realy. Sometimes people mean a Jew by race regardless of their religion.
For example, Premier Ben Gurion of the Jewish nation in Palestine is a Buddhist by religion, many Jews have become Buddhist, though a Jew by race. DNA I read and article in the times about DNA project testing Hispanic people in New Mexico and many were found had the cohanim marker in their blood. THEY HAVE "JEWISH BLOOD"! I also read about Italy and the testing of the cohanim marker in their blood and many were found----having it. So, what is this telling us???
Remember Joseph married an Egyptian woman and had two sons named Ephraim and Manasseh. when Jacob laid hands of those two boys to give them the BIRTHRIGHT He said, "LET MY NAME BE ON THEM". YES! They were half Eguptians....but they were full Israelites.
G-D is bring in order....He is our Creator, our Bohray, the G-D of All Mankind. For it is written....Jeremiah 32... "I am the LORD, the G-D of all mankind. Is anything too hard for Me?"
No! G-D is creating a new thing upon the earth.....do you see it? He plays with DNA, and down through all our generations....we are not pure.. Only the holy children of G-D, the sons of G-D that are given the eternal breath of the Almighty are pure, for they walk in holy union with the Living G-D. Read Jeremaih 31....Behold, the day-ssssss.........
(down through all our generations, remember time is to contain mankind not G-D, he is timeless, He speaks and it is done.) .......
....said the LORD, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast.
Does G-D lie....NO! DNA....G-D cares more for what is in your heart and mind, than what is in your blood. The blood line he has taken care of for us....now we must take care of our hearts and minds...clean up our act, and turn and become the mirror image of our G-D man, a son is brought forth.. As Ps. 2...the declared decree, to be obeyed by all.
Remember Amos 9......i will raise up the tabernale of David that is fallen.
The Irish, have a song that just poped into my head....goes like this...."Does your mother come from Ireland. The Jewish people say was your mother Jewish? The Darwin driven Nazi Holocaust, did they get their thoughts on this from the Jewish people who for generations wanted the pure race...
Was this G-D'S way of pay back.....??????
Forward, please keep this in, you take so much out. thank you We need to open our eyes to the error we have walked in for so many generations....
Holocaust illustrates what can happen when mankind from any nation even one that believes them self as the chosen of G-D the Creator of all mankind. Yes, from any nation any race! That is the TRUTH. When one thinks them selfs better and more pure. When that happens, a vacuum is created into which many false, fookish, and fatal idears can come rushing in. When He who gave mankind the True Tree of Life, is rejected, error and infamy can quickly follow.
Hitler encourage those individuals that he perceived as having Aryan traits to mate. He wanted the Aryon race to evolve upward. The Jewish people think upward towards G-D keep it pure..... Man or G-D'S thinking. He believed like a lot of Jewish people that race programs would futher evolution .... Wrong! Hitler thought othet groups of people "inferior" and that their interbreeding with the superior Aryan race would adversely affect the latter's gene pool------polluting it! Muslims think the same way. Who is next?????
the holocaust, who caused it??????? what thinking??????
Open your eyes, Wake up, your been in a long and fearful sleep like Abraham.....
I was once in this synagogue during a holy day, in Pa. U.S. and I notice after service men going up to this woman in a red hat. I gave it no more thought until leaving and going down the stairs, the Rabbi came out and made this statement.... "You are jewish only if your mother is Jewish", we had to ask her to leave. She did not belong. My heart raced right to G-D and asked him, not to let the Rabbi words hurt her, she must of come because she lovedYou, G-D so, she must be a brave woman, protect her. I was just a visitor my self, and latter I heard that the Rabbi was strucked down that day, he could not walk and they could not understand what was making him so sick.
I knew, it was G-D, he heard my prayer for the women. In my life time, I have had prayers set up and G-D always ans. But be careful what you pray for, words are a powerful thing.. You do not allways get what you think your going to get.
I prayed after that for this Rabbi's heart and mind to be made to know truth and let truth let him know wisdom in the hidden part, that is so marvelous in our eyes.
It is written in Isaiah 5....Ah, you who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is room for no one but you, and you are left to live alone in the midst of the land!
The LORD of host has sworn in my hearing: Surely many houses shall be desolate, large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant. For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath, and a-----homer of seed----shall yield a mere ephah.
Heed this: Heed it well: THE BRANCHES ARE TO ---"BEAR FRUIT". The one bath, here the fruit is "love".
I want to add, I have great love for the orthodox, spirituality, I just want them to open their eyes a little more....the rest of you have your eyes closed. Open the eyes of your hearts, and hear Him, His heart beat is strong.....His desire is for us to be brought forth..before the number of our days are at a end.
Our letters in Hebrew are numbered as the words of G-D are numbered, G-D is telling us something, do you know? Dust to dust, ashes to ashes, Spirit to spirit.
Svi, I think I know you. If so I was your dad's student and you are an inter-marraige product and intermarried yourself, both your parents and you inter-racial marraige. That takes courage, even chutzpah. But most of all it takes the bond between two generations that are seen as unstable yet strongly Jewish. Why I think you are whom I think you are is because you have your dad's scientific way of making obvious scientific logic. Be proud, as I am that you perpetuate the wisodom in the genes. As for those who would tangle with you, let them be warned that you are one hell of a statistician. Be well young man and Mazeltov!
Say hello to your sister and younger brother and I hope you get hom for Thanksgiving of patai rice! Happy Holidays!
See if you heard this story before....if you have you know me.
I asked questions all the time, my mother once said to me I was not her's. She must of been having a bad day with me. But being so young, I took her words to heart. I went to one of my uncles and told him, he told me I was an little angel. Children, think so much, one must be careful what we put in their heads. We had three uncles my fathers brothers living in the house with us, so I went to the next uncle and asked were did I come from, before I got here....he told me heaven. Then went to no# three uncle and asked again....but this time...I was sure I came from heaven and was an angel, and now I wanted to know why angels are here. This uncle told me of the great war in heaven and G-D sent them down here. I was so upset, I was a fallen angel....kicked out of heaven. I told know one, but G-D and told him night and day let me back in when I get bigger. I"ll be good. Little minds, little thoughts...
Thank you,
How many children do those who have written here against inter marraige have? It better be alot!
I think that the fellows who stated that those who go to Israel are committed Zionists might be correct in some cases. And the coordinator for birthright has a point. There are some Jews who wouldn't want to go on a birthright trip. I think some of the people who would go subconsciously have some curiousity about their Jewish heritage and identity. This is not the same as a commitment. It means they have some kind of subconscious connection, and they are willing to explore it. Some of them must be committed, though, like the fellow from Argentina who posted. I would think that some going on the trip feel some kind of connection to the identity and want to explore it, and the trip helps them cement the connection because Israel becomes a reality to them and it's a Jewish centre.