As Conservative religious leaders continue to debate whether the movement should bless intermarriages, one rabbi is adding his voice to a growing group that wants to officiate such ceremonies. Rabbi Steven Abraham of Beth El Synagogue in Omaha penned an op-ed in The Times of Israel this week calling on the movement to change its…
In a recent essay in The Jewish Week titled “Mikveh Can Solve Conversion Problem”, Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove presented a courageous attempt to address arguably the most pressing problem of 21st century American Jewry: intermarriage. Perhaps the most significant aspect of the problem of intermarriage is that for many Millennials, it is not a problem at…
When Holly first kissed Jeff on a dance floor back in the 1990s, she was a college freshman from Staten Island and he was a frat brother from Long Island. They both had New York accents. He thought the petite brunette was Jewish. But Holly Rizzuto was and still is an Italian Catholic, named Holly…
The next movie I plan to see is Jordan Peele’s horror film, “Get Out.” That’s both because it’s supposed to be amazing, and for another, more specific reason: I wrote my doctoral dissertation on how fictional intermarriage plots have been used to tell broader stories about identity. A horror story about a black man (Chris)…
It’s easy to get depressed reading the news about escalating violence and campaigns of threats against Jews and Muslims alike — not to mention foreigners and other minorities. But amidst the hatred, there are gratifying signs of solidarity between Jews and Muslims that we haven’t seen in a while. Here are six examples: After a…
A mere thirteen days before the presidential election, the Interfaith Center of Philadelphia formally launched the first of its kind program entitled “Visionary Women: Rooted in Faith, Committed to Justice.” Associate Executive Director of the Interfaith Center, Nicole Diroff was concerned that at best, twenty women would sign on and she would feel compelled to…
Lauren Michele Jackson’s excellent Buzzfeed story, “Why A New Mixed Race Generation Will Not Solve Racism,” makes the following case: “[C]ontrary to popular narratives, interracial heterosexual relationships and their result, multiracial children, are not the antithesis of white supremacy, but can be easily co-opted as the glittery mask behind which racism and antiblackness continue to…
NEW YORK (JTA) — Leading up to their wedding in 2012, Julianne and Jason Kanter hadn’t really discussed how they would incorporate their respective religions into their home. Julianne was raised by Catholic and Presbyterian parents, while Jason grew up culturally Jewish. At first, it was simple to mark their different backgrounds. In December, the…
