Making A Successful Jewish Interfaith Marriage

Straightforward and nonjudgmental advice for dating couples, partners, husbands and wives, in-laws, counselors and others. Interfaith relationships are commonplace; the challenges that go along with them are not. An interfaith couple will have to confront tough questions, yet it’s often difficult to find answers, especially when traditional sources of help—family, friends, clergy and counselors—are unable or unwilling to understand the problems. From a Jewish perspective, this book guides interfaith couples at any stage of their relationship—from dating and engagement, to the wedding and marriage—and the people who are affected by their relationship in any way, including their families and counselors who work with interfaith couples. While making no judgments or dictating answers, and supporting individual choice, topics covered include: What is an intermarriage? Why do people intermarry? When do you bring up the subject of religion? What is conversion and is it necessary? When do you discuss and decide how children will be raised? ... and much more!

Straightforward and nonjudgmental advice for dating couples, partners, husbands and wives, in-laws, counselors and others. Interfaith relationships are commonplace; the challenges that go along with them are not. An interfaith couple will have to confront tough questions, yet it's often difficult to find answers, especially when traditional sources of help--family, friends, clergy and counselors--are unable or unwilling to understand the problems. > From a Jewish perspective, this book guides interfaith couples at any stage of their relationship--from dating and engagement, to the wedding and marriage--and the people who are affected by their relationship in any way, including their families and counselors who work with interfaith couples. While making no judgments or dictating answers, and supporting individual choice, topics covered include: What is an intermarriage? Why do people intermarry? When do you bring up the subject of religion? What is conversion and is it necessary? When do you discuss and decide how children will be raised? ... and much more!

Every day Americans of different faiths fall in love, decide to marry, and are suddenly faced with a bewildering array of pressures, choices and conflicts. Rabbi Steven Carr Reuben offers down-to-earth advice to help couples of all faiths find their own solutions to sensitive issues, from talking about religious differences to deciding how to raise the children. Drawing upon 25 years of counseling experience, he shares the real life stories of couples who have met the challenges of interfaith relationships. This unique, nonjudgmental guide will help you learn how to discuss religion, talk to parents, choose a ceremony that's right for you, celebrate differences, create your own unique religious lifestyle, celebrate life as a "team marriage," learn how to discuss sensitive issues in advance and discover the joy of creating a life filled with mutual fulfillment, understanding and love.

You can understand your Jewish friends and loved ones more fully. A hands-on guide to the most important questions. Introducing My Faith and My Communityprovides an introduction to both the basics and complexities of Judaism and Jewish life through the lens of an interfaith relationship. Rather than providing stock answers to questions about Jewish rituals or values, or giving a broad overview of Jewish history and theology, Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky addresses topics that will encourage understanding and stimulate discussion between you and your Jewish partner, relative, or friend. Topics include: Beliefs, Religion, and the Place of God in the Jewish Faith Study, Learning, and Charity as Core Values in Jewish Life Food, Holidays, Humor, and Ethnicity as Part of Jewish Culture The Importance of Synagogue, Israel, and Community to American Jews

This book is a practical guide for parents whose children intermarry. It draws upon Rabbi Reuben's personal experiences officiating at over a thousand interfaith weddings. The author imparts the lessons he has learned for helping parents create loving, supportive, and successful relationships with their own children, their new son- or daughter-in-law, and their new interfaith in-laws, without compromising the integrity of their own dearly-held beliefs and faith. In addition, he incorporates anecdotal experiences of parents who have shared their own formulas for successfully coping with the day-to-day issues of maintaining the best relationship with their children. And he includes stories from same-sex unions as well. Written for people of various faiths across the religious spectrum, this book is a valuable source of information, guidance, and support. It speaks directly to parents, with concrete practical suggestions about how to maintain the best possible relationship with their children—and be a positive influence upon their grandchildren.

As the number of Jewish-Christian marriages in America continue to rise, couples find themselves searching for ways to reconcile love and religion. Even when each partner has no particular religious life, they are confronted with related conflicts. Should children be raised in one faith and not the other? Who decides which holidays to celebrate and how? How can couples deal with extended family members who may not understand or accept their interfaith marriage? Readers will find and array of reactions and approaches as the couples profiled in this book describe how they tacked these topics. Each personal narrative offers fresh insight into interfaith families by giving examples of the successes and failures, struggles and triumphs of everyday situations and major life decisions.

The first comprehensive wedding guide specifically for the Jewish/Christian couple who wants to honor both religious traditions in their service, vows, and readings. Saying "I do" is one of the happiest moments in a couple's life together--but planning that trip to the altar can be a stressful ordeal. The minute an engagement is announced two full clans want to celebrate the union their way! When one of those families is Jewish (50 percent of whom now marry outside their faith) and the other is Christian, the religious details can increase the pressure on the bride- and groom-to-be. Celebrating Interfaith Marriages provides all of the expert advice on how to combine elements of the two faiths so everyone can rejoice with the bride and groom on their wedding day. Devon Lerner draws from her twenty years of officiating interfaith weddings as she discusses the significance of vows and traditions unique to both faiths and suggests how to incorporate them into a service that is balanced and beautiful. She provides Christian and Jewish services readers can mix and match, as well as custom-bled ceremonies contributed by couples who have worked with her over the years. There's a chapter on how to avoid crashes on issues like location, when the ceremony takes place, and whether the bride and groom should see each other before meeting at the altar. A full section of readings, both biblical and secular, are here too, as well as anecdotes that will reassure and amuse. No interfaith couple will want to be without this essential handbook when they plan their special day.

In the last decade, 45% of all marriages in the U.S. were between people of different faiths. The rapidly growing number of mixed-faith families has become a source of hope, encouraging openness and tolerance among religious communities that historically have been insular and suspicious of other faiths. Yet as Naomi Schaefer Riley demonstrates in 'Til Faith Do Us Part, what is good for society as a whole often proves difficult for individual families: interfaith couples, Riley shows, are less happy than others and certain combinations of religions are more likely to lead to divorce. Drawing on in-depth interviews with married and once-married couples, clergy, counselors, sociologists, and others, Riley shows that many people enter into interfaith marriages without much consideration of the fundamental spiritual, doctrinal, and practical issues that divide them. Couples tend to marry in their twenties and thirties, a time when religion diminishes in importance, only to return to faith as they grow older and raise children, suffer the loss of a parent, or experience other major life challenges. Riley suggests that a devotion to diversity as well as to a romantic ideal blinds many interfaith couples to potential future problems. Even when they recognize deeply held differences, couples believe that love conquers all. As a result, they fail to ask the necessary questions about how they will reconcile their divergent worldviews-about raising children, celebrating holidays, interacting with extended families, and more. An obsession with tolerance at all costs, Riley argues, has made discussing the problems of interfaith marriage taboo. 'Til Faith Do Us Part is a fascinating exploration of the promise and peril of interfaith marriage today. It will be required reading not only for interfaith couples or anyone considering interfaith marriage, but for all those interested in learning more about this significant, yet understudied phenomenon and the impact it is having on America.