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Jewish World Review Feb. 29, 2000 /24 Adar I, 5760
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
IN WHAT MAY BE one of the world's best-kept Jewish secrets, the Reform
movement, of which I am a part, continues to abrogate a most fundamental
principle of Jewish tradition.
Reform rabbis and lay leaders have deliberately nurtured the myth that our
Orthodox brethren do not recognize us - or Conservative Jews for that
matter - as Jewish. In truth, though, it is my own Reform movement that
does not recognize some of us as Jews - even those born of Jewish mothers -
as outlined in the definition that has guided Jewish life for at least 2,000
years.
The report of the Committee on Patrilineal Descent on the Status of Children
of Mixed Marriages, adopted by the CCAR on March 15, 1983, states: "it can
no longer be assumed a priori, therefore, that the child of a Jewish mother
will be any more Jewish than the child of a non-Jewish mother will not be.
This leads us to the conclusion that the same requirements must be applied
to establish the status of a child of a mixed marriage, regardless of
whether the mother or father is Jewish."
In an exchange of correspondence, my rabbi at Temple Emanuel in Marblehead,
Mass., where I have been affiliated for almost 40 years, confirms that a
child born of a Jewish mother and non-Jewish father, who would be deemed
Jewish by Orthodox and Conservative authorities, would not be deemed Jewish
by the Reform movement if there were no public affirmation of Jewishness,
such as baby naming or circumcision ceremony, consecration or bar or bat
mitzvah and unless the child were raised exclusively as a Jew. Furthermore,
if a child born of a Jewish mother were brought up in both religions or
neither religion, the child would not be regarded Jewish by the Reform
movement. If a male child born of a Jewish mother and a non-Jewish father
were circumcised in a hospital but not ritually, he would not be presumed
Jewish by the movement until and unless some later evidence emerged that he
was reared as a Jew. A female child would be viewed in the same manner if
she did not experience a baby-naming.
But how (and by whom) would it be determined whether a child is being raised
exclusively as a Jew? Would the presence of a Christmas tree
How paradoxical that children recognized as Jewish by our Orthodox and
Conservative brethren would be viewed as non-Jewish by my Reform movement,
the "liberal" branch of Judaism. How ironic that, on the one hand, the
reform movement brings legal action against the government of Israel for
failure to recognize as Jewish people who are converted in Israel by the
Reform movement, while on the other hand, the movement denies Jewish
recognition of some people who are born of a Jewish mother.
In practice, it might be the case that problems stemming from this issue do
not arise with tremendous frequency. Nonetheless, the rule technically
requires children of interfaith marriages, even in cases where the mother is
Jewish,
It is clear that the wide chasm between the Reform movement, on the one
hand, and the Conservative and Orthodox movements, on the other, created by
the differing views of who deserves to be recognized as a Jew is far greater
than most of realize. If Reform leaders do not take steps to reverse this
divisive, radical departure from historic Jewish law and tradition, it will
be hard to imagine anything resembling a unified Jewish people in the
An informed Reform
Jew's lament
By Robert Lappin
The report goes on to say, "Therefore: The Jewish status of the offspring of
any mixed marriage is established through appropriate and timely public and
formal acts of identification with the Jewish faith and people. The
performances of these mitzvot serves to commit those who participate in
them, both parent and child, to Jewish life..."
in his or her
home disqualify a child from being considered Jewish? Would occasional
attendance at church services with the child's non-Jewish father be
determinative? And what of children born of a Jewish mother and a
non-Jewish father but brought up in a purely secular home? Are they to be
deemed not Jewish since they fall in the category of "neither"?
to affirm publicly their Jewishness or to go beyond that required of
children whose parents are both Jewish, in order to be considered Jewish
themselves. That is onerous - and contrary to the spirit of the Reform
movement. It is a problem, both as a matter of principle and practice.
Robert Lappin, a businessman and philanthropist, is a past president of the
Federation of the North Shore in Massachusetts. Send your comments by clicking here.
