Twenty-five years after studies noted unprecedentedly high rates of interfaith marriage for American Jews, noted scholar Steven M. Cohen wrote an article asking how Jews were doing in protecting Jewish continuity in light of intermarriage. His answer, in short, was “Not well.” Dr. Cohen argues interfaith marriage is bad for Jews because it results in…
I left my husband, an Israeli American Jew, in the months after Trump launched his campaign. By the time Trump clinched the Republican nomination, I was in love with an Egyptian Muslim. It’s not a path I could have predicted, but it’s one that taught me many valuable lessons about love and the future I…
Eight years ago I got married in the little town of Wagoner, Oklahoma. It was my first time in the US. My wife Katie and I were living in Israel at the time, young and in love, and were ready to tie the knot. There was one problem – I am Jewish and she isn’t….
— A large majority of American and Israeli Jews say Israel should recognize marriages and conversions performed by Reform and Conservative rabbis. A poll conducted by The Jerusalem Post and the American Jewish Committee found that 74 percent of American Jews and 62 percent of Israeli Jews believe the non-Orthodox rites should be recognized. The findings…
I grew up in South Korea until the age of 15, which was when I moved to Ohio to go to a boarding school. South Korea has less than 100 Jews out of a 50 million population, which is composed of 99.9% Koreans. I did read comic books based on the Talmud when I was…
“I know my husband uses the microwave on Shabbat,” a friend told me, after I shared my story of being in a mixed secular-religious marriage, “but he makes sure to do it while I’m out of the house at shul.” While this bifurcated approach may work in the short term, where the less observant partner…
Editor’s note: The author asked to use a pseudonym because her Orthodox community does not know about her lack of religious observance. When I met my husband, I still believed in God. I wasn’t as committed in the demonstrations of my belief as he was in his, but it existed, surely. I was raised in…
I have a confession to make: I’m in a mixed marriage. But not the kind you usually think of when you hear the term, which conjures up images of countless Tevyes sitting shiva. These days – and in Israel, in particular – “mixed marriage” refers not so much to two people of different religions, but…
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