Jewish Education and its Implications for Mixed Marriages

Publication Date: April 2004

Publisher: Hadassah-Brandeis Institute

Author(s): Alice Goldstein; Jon Levisohn; Jonathan S. Woocher

Research Area: Culture and religion; Education; Social conditions

Keywords: Values; Jewish Continuity; Intermarriage; Education

Type: Other

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

In this panel at the "Double or Nothing: Jewish Families and Mixed Marriages in the United States" conference, panelists scrutinize the relationship between Jewish education and patterns of intermarriage. Woocher considers the impact of intermarried families on the market for Jewish education, with regards to decreasing enrollments, school policies on issues like the admittance of patrilineal Jews, modes of education, and curriculum content. He questions whether and to what extent preventing intermarriage ought to be an explicit goal of Jewish education, as well as how discourse is to be framed and boundaries established. Levisohn focuses on how the presence of a critical mass of children from intermarried families does and should affect the educational content and environment at Jewish schools.