JewishGentileCouples.com

Columnist Julie Wiener titled one of her recent submissions “Is Outreach a Bad Word?”^* She was reflecting on a seminar that was hosted in New York City on “Jewish identity, Who is a Jew, Membership in the Jewish Community, and Outreach in Israel and the Diaspora.”

In the context of whether or not to embrace Jewish-Gentile couples and their families, Wiener’s article states that several traditional Jewish community leaders said that they are not in favor of outreach.

A lot of what we understand as culture is formed by memories. Any deliberate attempt to mark a special occasion helps to create identity and traditions. Passover is one of the three most significant memorial events on the Jewish calendar [i]. Celebration of Messianic resurrection is one of the key remembrance days among Christians.

Purim and St. Patrick’s Day occur in the month of March.  So does the changing of the seasons, you know “In like a lion, and out like a lamb,” etc.

The warming trend in North America at this time of year is often associated with a familiar emotional set.  Spring fever is what occurs when boys come out of their winter burrows and notice the beauty of young ladies in the flower of their youth.  That is all poetic until the attraction of spring fever creates a Jewish-Gentile couple.  Then emotions can run into the consequences of cross-cultural attraction.

Chuck and Jo were way ahead of the curve. They married in 1955. At that time, the Jewish-Gentile intermarriage rate was less than 6%.

Jo was from an involved and practicing Christian family. She knew Jewish people and their culture, but hadn't envisioned marrying one. That is, until she met Chuck.

He was from a traditional Jewish family. His parents came from Russia and raised him in a religious home near Cleveland, Ohio. After serving with the U.S. Air Force during W.W.II, he and his family moved to California. When Chuck and Jo got married, they didn't have very many models for how to be a Jewish-Gentile family.