Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Israeli Official Says Interfaith Marriage Of American Jews Is A ‘Second Holocaust’

An Israeli Minister compared the intermarriage of Jews to the Holocaust, the AP reported.

The remarks came at a recent meeting of the Israeli Cabinet. Dennis Ross, the board chair of the Jewish People Policy Institute, and a former White House official, gave a briefing on trends among diaspora Jews. One of the most discussed topics was that of intermarriage, with particular regard to American Jews.

In response, Rafi Peretz, Israel’s Minister of Education and the leader of a religious right-wing political bloc, lamented the assimilation of American Jews, which he described as a “second Holocaust,” claiming that intermarriage in the past 70 years was responsible for the loss of “six million Jews.”

His comments were disputed by Minister of Energy Yuval Steinitz, who argued that “assimilation [is] not a critical problem,” and criticized the Cabinet’s discussion of American Jews, asserting that they must “stop disregarding and looking down on Jews in America,” and acknowledge those American Jews that identify principally as Jews “culturally and historically.”

Rates of interfaith marriage for American Jews have risen exponentially in the past decade, growing from 17% in 1970 to 58% in 2005. Despite the increased numbers, intermarriage remains a controversial subject among American Jews. Some fear cultural erasure, while others argue that opposition to interfaith marriages is discriminatory and racist. Comparatively, in Israel, all marriages must be approved by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, which does not allow interfaith marriages. Israelis that do marry across religious lines must do so in other countries.

Alexandra Wells is a news intern at the Forward. Contact her at [email protected]

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.