The mikveh is a sacred space, but not the most inclusive. | Photo by Flickr user diamond geezer (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Rabbinically intermarried [Sh'ma]

Can a couple, both intensely devoted to their particular expression of Judaism, co-exist in a household? (Probably.) The more prudent question is… What does that look like? Rabbi Julie Adler, Director of the B’rit Milah Program of Reform Judaism, shares her own experience:

“We’re each pretty certain that our way of observing Judaism is right. For us. Are we certain?  No. Our marriage works because we are open enough to the possibility that another way might be better for someone else. He might not like that I eat chicken parmesan.  I might not like that his default is to read and repeat traditional commentaries rather than inventing new interpretations to text. But we love and respect one another. We are committed to sharing one home and one life, even as we make choices that the other wouldn’t make. Most of the year, our certainty about each other is stronger and clearer than any doubts we have about our differing religious observances.

On Passover, however, it’s much harder. The rest of the year, we keep our dishes and cooking utensils kosher to his standards, but we often order in “hot dairy” from non-hechshered restaurants, and he looks aside when I bring home food he considers treyf, to be eaten with disposable utensils. But on Passover, he won’t order in, or eat out (except in kosher for Passover restaurants), and won’t allow any outside prepared food to be brought into the house. I often feel like a guest in my own kitchen. As much of the Jewish world becomes more stringent in their observances, I innately rebel and slide further and further to the left.”

Whatever you call him, just don’t call him late for shul [Forward]

Our very own David A.M. Wilensky, Editor-in-Chief and Dashing Overlord (EICDO, for short), penned this piece about his experiences as a patrilineal Jew converting to the Conservative movement. In it, he calls for the Conservative movement to reconsider its rejection of patrilineal descent.

“It’s an intolerable, unsustainable situation. I don’t begrudge Orthodoxy its understanding of Jewish law — it is what it is. Conservative Judaism is another story. If Reform Judaism weren’t the largest denomination, the argument that it has irreparably torn asunder the Jewish community in accepting patrilineals might carry some weight. In the real America, though, Reform is the largest movement and the majority of American Jews don’t belong to any Jewish denomination. In my experience, these harder to categorize Jews couldn’t care less about my mom.

The Conservative rabbinate protests that it cannot recognize patrilineal descent because that would violate its understanding of Jewish law. Coming from people who drive to services on the Sabbath, that reeks. When reality, reason and the changing worldview of the Jews in the pews have called, the Conservative movement has managed to trot out new Halacha that changes the previously unchangeable.”

Israel’s inclusive mikveh [Zeek]

The mikveh is a sacred place for Jewish spirituality. While many observant Jews are intimately familiar with the mikveh and its significance, it isn’t necessarily the most inclusive place. Rabbi Haviva Ner-David, in this article for Zeek, offers her vision of a mikveh for all.

“I had a dream of turning the Hannaton mikveh into a pluralist mikveh where anyone (man or woman, gay or straight, single or married, Orthodox or religiously liberal, Jew or non-Jew) who wants to immerse could do so, and where the terms and conditions of the immersion would be up to the one who is immersing. I also envisioned it as an educational mikveh where people would come to learn about mikveh as well as experience a mikveh immersion for the first time, and where people would come to immerse for a variety of rituals, not only the more traditional ones—for instance, life cycle rituals, transition rituals, healing rituals, etc. So I raised some money to make the place look warm and inviting and to turn it into a space appropriate for gathering and learning as well as bathing and immersing.”

U.S. Jews don’t trust Evangelical Christians [Haaretz]

Despite their often enthusiastic support for Israel, turns out Evangelical Christians have yet to win over the doubts of many U.S. Jews, according to a poll. In this article from Haaretz, Nathan Guttman explores the implications of this report:

“Only one in five Jewish Americans holds favorable views of those aligned with the Christian right, a category that includes most of Israel’s evangelical supporters.

(…)

‘I find this shocking and concerning,’ said Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, founder and president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, the first major group to engage evangelical Christians in support of Israel. Eckstein and other activists working on Jewish-evangelical relations expressed a sense of betrayal, accusing Jewish liberals of being prejudiced against Christian conservatives and of clinging to pre-conceived notions and stereotypes about evangelicals’ beliefs and goals.”