Under the Chuppah: Rabbinic Officiation and Intermarriage
Leonard Saxe, Fern Chertok, Graham Wright, Shahar Hecht
October 2016
This report explores several essential questions about the relationship between Jewish clergy officiation and intermarried couples’ trajectories of Jewish engagement.
High rates of intermarriage have prompted intense public debates regarding officiation by Jewish clergy at weddings of Jews to non-Jews. Although for some the debate over rabbinic officiation at intermarriage hinges on theological questions, for others the discussion centers on the impact that rabbinic officiation might have on the Jewish character of the homes and families that these couples create.
As part of a long-term follow-up study of 2001-2009 applicants to Birthright Israel, we surveyed 1,200 married young adults. The analyses explore differences between three groups of couples: inmarried couples, intermarried couples who had a sole Jewish officiant (i.e., no non-Jewish co-officiant), and intermarried couples who married under other auspices.
- Read the report
- Read the technical appendix
- Read the oped: Why a rabbi under the huppah may boost Jewish engagement in intermarried homes, JTA, October 31, 2016
Among the Findings
- Intermarried couples married by a Jewish clergy officiant are more highly engaged in Jewish life than intermarried couples who had other forms of officiation.
- Intermarried couples married by a Jewish clergy officiant are three times more likely to raise children Jewish compared with intermarried couples who married under other auspices (85% v. 23%).
- The key differences between intermarried couples who did and did not have a Jewish clergy officiant persist even when the gender, Jewish backgrounds, and college Jewish experiences of the Jewish spouses are taken into account.
- On multiple measures of Jewish engagement, including synagogue involvement, intermarried couples whose weddings were presided over by a Jewish clergy officiant look very similar to the inmarried.
- On other measures however, sole Jewish officiation does not fully level the playing field between intermarried and inmarried couples.