Boston’s Good News On Intermarriage

Publication Date: November 2006

Publisher: Jewish Week

Author(s): Leonard Saxe; Benjamin Phillips; Charles Kadushin

Research Area: Culture and religion; Social conditions

Keywords: Intermarriage; Jewish continuity; Family

Type: Other

Coverage: United States United States

Abstract:

Intermarriage is changing the face of the American Jewish community. National estimates suggest that about half of recently married Jews have partnered with non-Jews. If that rate is sustained through the next generation, two-thirds of American Jewish families will include non-Jewish members. Intermarriage is a sociological fact, not a value statement and, as social scientists, we try to understand this trend. Our findings regarding intermarriage in the recently completed 2005 Boston Jewish community study add a new dimension to this debate.

In the Jewish Week, 11/21/2006