MARRIAGE WITH A“MESSIANIC JEW” Walter Jacob
QUESTION: May a Reform rabbi officiate at a marriage between a Jewish girl and a boy who was born a Jew but now considers himself a“Messianic Jew?” Is this in consonance with Reform Judaism? (Rabbi Seymour Prystowsky, Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania )
ANSWER: Reform Judaism has been firmly opposed to mixed marriages. This was true in the last century and in this century. At its New York meeting in 1909, the Central Conference of American Rabbis passed the resolution,“The Central Conference of American Rabbis declares that mixed marriages are contrary to the tradition of the Jewish religion and should, therefore, be discouraged by the American rabbinate”(CCAR Yearbook, vol. 19, p. 170). This resolution was reaffirmed as part of a lengthy report in 1947(CCAR Yearbook, vol. 57, p. 161). A considerably stronger resolution was passed in Atlanta in 1973. Its text reads as follows:
“The Central Conference of American Rabbis, recalling its stand adopted in 1909 that“mixed marriage is contrary to the Jewish tradition and should be discouraged,” now declares its opposition to participation by its members in any ceremony which solemnizes a rnixed marriage.
The Central Conference of American Rabbis recognizes that historically its members have held, and continue to hold divergent interpretations of Jewish tradition. In order to keep open every channel to Judaism and K'lal Yisrael for those who have already entered into mixed marriage the CCAR calls upon its members:
1. to assist fully in educating children of such mixed marriage