Conservative movement broadens inclusion of interfaith families

The Conservative Jewish movement has adopted nine halachic rulings intended to more fully integrate interfaith families into synagogues and Jewish community life, while the movement’s rabbis remain prohibited from officiating at interfaith weddings, including “signing documents or verbal participation of any kind.”

The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly, the international association of Conservative/Masorti rabbis, approved the measures in June and published them on Wednesday in a 37-page document titled “Gateways Into Jewish Living: Guiding the Conservative/Masorti rabbi in supporting families with non-Jewish loved ones.”

The committee said the rulings reflect a “deepening commitment to intermarried couples and families building a Jewish home” and formally abandon a 1989 policy that discouraged congregations from congratulating intermarrying couples or accepting donations commemorating their marriages.

“There is no room for harboring ill-feelings toward those individuals who have intermarried if they wish to create a Jewish household,” the document states. “These families should be seen as Jewish families, fully integrated into the life of the synagogue.

Among the changes, Conservative rabbis may now offer blessings to interfaith couples before or after their wedding, provided the couple intends to establish an exclusively Jewish home and raise Jewish children. Rabbis may also lead home-dedication ceremonies for such families.

The rulings further affirm full Jewish mourning practices, including sitting shivah and reciting Kaddish, for a non-Jewish parent, spouse or child, and permit Conservative rabbis to officiate at funerals for non-Jewish immediate family members.

In addition, the committee ruled that Conservative institutions may hire intermarried Jews for non-clergy positions and affirmed that individual congregations may determine their own membership policies.

“We should see each encounter with intermarried couples as an opportunity to guide them to actualize a Jewish present and future, inspired and shaped by Jewish traditions,” the committee wrote.

The changes come as interfaith marriage has become increasingly common among non-Orthodox American Jews. According to a 2020 Pew Research Center survey, 42% of currently married Jewish adults have a non-Jewish spouse. Among Jews who married since 2010, 61% are in interfaith marriages, rising to 72% when Orthodox Jews are excluded. By contrast, 98% of married Orthodox Jews have Jewish spouses.

Additionally, while interfaith households are less likely to raise their children as Jewish, Jews ages 18-49 with one Jewish parent are more likely than those ages 50 and older to describe themselves as Jewish. The report states that the finding appears to show “that the offspring of intermarriages have become increasingly likely to identify as Jewish in adulthood.”

Get the latest updates in our WhatsApp group.