A lively and accessible look at Jewish intermarriage and its familial and cultural effects.

The American Jewish resistance to intermarriage held by earlier generations has given way to the view that intermarriage is normative in the American milieu. Some observers believe America’s promises are dramatically fulfilled by marriage across boundaries. But what is the impact of mixed marriage on Jews and Judaism? Concerned that intermarriage may weaken American Jewish vitality, many wonder: Will the blessing of American openness cause Jewish culture to be virtually loved out of existence in twenty-first-century America? Drawing on more than 250 original interviews with mixed married men and women, Double or Nothing? examines how couples negotiate the ethnic and religious identities of their families and the role of external influences. Fishman’s exploration provides fascinating insights into the family dynamics of mixed married households.

Cross-listed in the Brandeis Series in American Jewish History, Culture and Life

Sylvia Barack Fishman is codirector of the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute and professor in the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University, where she directs the program in contemporary Jewish life. Her earlier books include Jewish Life and American Culture and A Breath of Life: Feminism in the American Jewish Community, named a 1994 Honor Book by the National Jewish Book Council.

“Sylvia Barack Fishman manages magically, it seems, to conduct sensitive interviews, absorb complex data, read a slew of sources, and pull everything together into a fascinating and challenging whole. With clarity and compassion, she shows how mixed marriages have changed the face of American Jewry, and of America itself.”
–Francine Klagsbrun, author of The Fourth Commandment: Remember the Sabbath Day