Talk:Jewish view of marriage

"Some hold, therefore, that much intermarriage today, is thus not a deliberate rejection of Judaism, but a choice to marry a person that one has happened to meet."

This is exactly how I see it. If you think Jewish identity is being threatened, don't blame intermarriage, blame the apathy towards religious education and towards inculcating piety that results in Jews and gentiles having enough in common to get married.

I was taught the syllables of the prayers and a few factoids about the major holidays, three hours a week, with no theological or doctrinal exploration, no indication of why this blooming, buzzing confusion was important. I think I and a practicing Jew (more than three days a year, that is) would be incompatible. --Calieber 18:12, 29 Sep 2003 (UTC)

So you suggest to not tell Jews what they do wrong, because, since they weren't taught properly to begin with, why start now? I don't care how a Jew is raised, when he picks up a BLT I will quickly remind him that pork is not Kosher. - SF2K1

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Although I am not familiar with all the details of Steve Greenberg's proposal, I know him well enough to know that the way it was presented here is dubious at best. I will call him some time this week to ask him what he really said, noting that as much as I admire him as a teacher and a friend, his views on marriage (particularly gay marriage, for which he is most famous) are highly controversial in traditional circles. In the meanwhile, I have attempted to fix the article here so that it is more in keeping with my reading of Steve there. Danny 22:45, 5 Oct 2003 (UTC)

Greenberg has publicly published his views. The article gave a weblink to his own essay, reproduced below. As far as I know, everything he says nowadays is automatically rejected by most of Orthodox Judaism. They don't like the fact that a gay Orthodox rabbi has outed himself; until recently Orthodoxy had tried to maintain the fiction that no gay Orthodox rabbis existed. (Many even tried to argue that no gay Orthodox Jews existed.) In many mainstream Orthodox circles (Agudat Yisrael, Young Israel) he is trief. In much of the Modern Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America he also is considered damaged goods. Privately, however, he still has some currency among liberal Orthodox Jews, both rabbis and laypeople. RK 01:26, Oct 26, 2003 (UTC)

I seriously doubt that his proposal will ever be accepted by Orthodox Judaism. Publicly his proposal is being discussed and debated by many Conservative rabbis, but they show no signs of adopting this view. Instead, they are unofficially sending such couples to Reform rabbis, many of whom will perform a Ger Toshav marriage. The Conservative movement has had an outreach movement for such couples for years, and has recently stepped up efforts in this area. However, their official position, which they actually follow in practice, is that they will not perform any marriage ceremony between a Jew and a non-Jew. However if such a couple happens to come to a Conservative synagogue, and shows interest in a single-faith Jewish household, then they will be welcomed with open arms. (How open, of course, depends on the people in the particular synagogue. Some are more progressive, some shoot themselves in the foot.) RK 01:26, Oct 26, 2003 (UTC)

Among Reform and Reconstructionist rabbis, they no longer view halakha (Jewish law) as binding, and thus see no formal impediment to performing an intermarriage of any sort. Individual Reform and Rec. rabbis have total autonomy as whether or not to officiate at such ceremonies, and each sets their own preconditions. I have spoken to a few who agree with Rabbi Greenberg's Ger Toshav proposal, and they are already accrying it out, sometimes on behalf of O and C rabbis who sent couples to them. RK 01:29, Oct 26, 2003 (UTC)

Rabbi Steve Greenberg's Ger Toshav intermarriage proposal. (http://www.clal.org/ss43.html)