Intermarriage – Bridging Academic and Communal Voices

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Abstract

Roundtable: Intermarriage – Bridging Academic and Communal Voices

Recent population data makes clear that intermarriage has been steadily on the rise for decades (Pew Reports on Jewish Americans, 2013; 2020). Both Jewish scholars and Jewish communal leaders warned about the dangers of intermarriage for many years, but recent scholarship and communal programming has made a shift. For example, Jewish feminist scholarship makes the argument that sociological and demographic research was often tainted with sexist expectations around reproduction (McGinity, 2020), and organizations like 18Doors, Judaism Unbound, and many others are upholding intermarriage as a positive force in Jewish life. Rethinking traditional narratives about intermarriage in scholarship and community means interrogating previous assumptions and having brave conversations about where we have been, where we are, and where we wish to go. This roundtable hopes to foster one such conversation and model what it means to actively challenge and change previously held perceptions.

Each participant will prepare 3-5 minutes of remarks and then we will engage in discussion with one another and audience members on the following questions:

What has scholarship gotten right and gotten wrong over the past several decades?

What is happening with intermarried couples and families now and what does it suggest about Jewish communal life in future?

What topics, questions, and trends should Jewish scholars be focusing on as the landscape of intermarriage in Jewish community continues to shift?

Dr. Keren McGinity will offer ideas of how we move both scholarship and communal leadership forward towards inclusion.

Dr. Fern Chertok will discuss recent research findings about interfaith families and how Jewish organizations can use this research to inform policy and practice.

Dr. Denise Handlarski's comments will center on how communal leadership can model Jewish practice for diverse families in familial and community spaces.

Lex Rofeberg will offer perspectives on the gatekeeping of Jewish institutions, particularly seminaries, and how it is impacting Jewish community.

Alicia Chandler will draw from her consulting practice to address communal needs and how scholarship may respond.

Dr. Bruce A. Phillips, a leading scholar on issues of intermarriage and other sociological issues in Jewish life, will serve as moderator.

Sub Unit

• Social Science

Moderator

• Bruce Phillips, Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion

Discussants

• Keren McGinity, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism

• Lex Rofeberg, Judaism Unbound

• Denise Handlarski, Trent University

• Alicia Chandler

• Fern Chertok, Brandeis University

Zoom Host

• Zoom Host 11