Rabbi Steve

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RabbiSteve

Rabbi Steve
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Hello everyone. My name is Rabbi Steve and I am an Interfaith Rabbi. I just want to say hi and let you know I am available to answer any questions on ritual, etc. :)
Shalom,
Rabbi Steve
 
greymare said:
gday there steve
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Hi everyone. Well, what I mean by Interfaith Rabbi is the fact that although I am a rabbi, I support- rather than discourage- interfaith marriage. In all the mainstream movements- Orthodox, Conservative and even Reform- most rabbis (in the case of Reform, many) will not co-officiate at a wedding ceremony with Priest or Minister.
An Interfaith Rabbi will. We value any connection to a person's Jewish roots and culture.

Thanks for the question :)

Rabbi Steve
 
RabbiSteve said:
Hi everyone. Well, what I mean by Interfaith Rabbi is the fact that although I am a rabbi, I support- rather than discourage- interfaith marriage. In all the mainstream movements- Orthodox, Conservative and even Reform- most rabbis (in the case of Reform, many) will not co-officiate at a wedding ceremony with Priest or Minister.
An Interfaith Rabbi will. We value any connection to a person's Jewish roots and culture.

Thanks for the question :)

Rabbi Steve
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Are you renewal?

Oops, oh, welcome to the forum. I attend a synagogue occasionally which is attached (at the lobby not the hip) to a Presbytarian Church. Additionally when they decided to build a building (previously they shared the space) they decided to make it permanent and had a 'wedding' ceremony and have the Coddish (sp?) framed in the lobby.

These folks are interfaith, they have joint holidays, so each may learn more about the other, and have now linked up with a Mosque and Imam for more interfaith exploration and discussion.

I honor your path.
 
hi, rabbisteve

I guess interfaith marriage is an interfaith question, but I had never seriously thought about it before. How is interfaith marriage possible? In my immediate family, there is one christian rule that must never be broken, which is that I must never ever marry a nonchristian. It is a very strict and ancient prohibition passed down to me multiple times and in various ways - sometime seriously and other times jokingly. If I were to marry a non christian, the whole family would go into fits of anger, fainting, and perhaps some would die on the same day. Its a fairly effective prohibition.
 
Welcome to the IO forums, RabbiSteve. It's good to have another Jewish perspective. Not that BB and dauer don't do a great job, but you know what I mean.
 
It's true Alex. We all need a bit more slack in our lives. Praise Bob!
 
Dream said:
hi, rabbisteve

I guess interfaith marriage is an interfaith question, but I had never seriously thought about it before. How is interfaith marriage possible? In my immediate family, there is one christian rule that must never be broken, which is that I must never ever marry a nonchristian. It is a very strict and ancient prohibition passed down to me multiple times and in various ways - sometime seriously and other times jokingly. If I were to marry a non christian, the whole family would go into fits of anger, fainting, and perhaps some would die on the same day. Its a fairly effective prohibition.
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Yes, this is a common family reaction. And it doesn't matter what your faith is :rolleyes:
 
in your opinion. in my opinion, there is a very good reason for rabbis not to officiate at interfaith marriages. personally, i think it's nonsense, but then i dare say you'd expect that.

a jewish marriage is a contract between two jewish people. you cannot contract under halakhah to do something that halakhah does not permit. halakhically, these are not marriages at all, but private arrangements presumably under some form of civil law.

by the time such a question occurs, it is invariably already too late to intervene, even were it one's right to do so.

do you have the same objection regardless of the halakhic status of the children? and what is your opinion as to whether intermarriage does or doesn't result in a lessening of jewish commitment and, ultimately, a lack of jews and judaism? because, as i am sure you are aware, the statistics are pretty clear.

b'shalom

bananabrain
 
dauer said:
It's true Alex. We all need a bit more slack in our lives. Praise Bob!
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I'm flattered, I'm sure!
bananabrain said:
what is your opinion as to whether intermarriage does or doesn't result in a lessening of jewish commitment and, ultimately, a lack of jews and judaism? because, as i am sure you are aware, the statistics are pretty clear.
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But if a Jew is going to marry a non-Jew anyway, what chance is there that the kids will have any commitment or even interest in the Jewish side if the rabbis shut the couple off right at the outset?
 
bob x said:
But if a Jew is going to marry a non-Jew anyway, what chance is there that the kids will have any commitment or even interest in the Jewish side if the rabbis shut the couple off right at the outset?
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we all know that by the time this situation has arisen, it's pretty much too late anyway. the solution is not to engage in a religiously meaningless ceremony. the best outcome is an increased engagement over the next generation and, if the woman isn't jewish then frankly, the kids' commitment isn't going to make much difference in any case. and, regardless of the attitude of the rabbis, the stats say that the kids won't have any commitment anyway, so it's a pretty moot point. your solution appears to be to make absolutely no demands whatsoever and, i'm afraid i don't see the point of this at all. ok, so it might make someone feel good on their wedding day, but in the long term, nothing positive occurs for the community, so why should a community sanction such a complete surrender to fashion and moral relativism? by all means, go ahead and do what you want to do, but don't expect anyone in the actual community to respect it as a process. all this is really doing is managing the most tenuous links to judaism. kowtowing to every personal whim is not a recipe for communal survival.

b'shalom

bananabrain
 
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