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THE SOUTHERN ISIAELITE
Friday, Sept. 6, 1963
PLAIN TALK-bv Alfred Seg.il
About Getting Married
I have on my desk letters from
four readers of mine who speak
up about Jewish boys marrying
girls who are not Jewish. Their
letters have to do with a column
of mine in which I was reporting
the sorrow of a Jewish mother in
California whose son, a soldier
in the U. S. Army overseas, mar-
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ried a German Catholic girl over
there
Oh, yes, there’s plenty of such
intermarriages going on in the
world and Jewish papas and
mamas have been reporting their
broken hearts to this column . . .
in the hope that maybe I can of
fer some comfort.
My poor old head and heart
have very little to offer. Oh, what
could I do about it if any of my
three sons had been married non-
Jewishly? I guess I would have
taken it prayerfully: O, good God,
please see to it that they lead
good lives together, anyway, even
though they were brought up in
different religions. Yes, may they
behave as worthwhile people, and
then my poor heart will feel con
tent a bit, and in the synagogue
I shall speak up to Thee thank
fully, saying, after all, they are
decent people together . . . good
righteous people who practice the
virtue of religion generally.
And just about an hour ago
I was called up by a mother who
was weeping: “Oh, Mr. Segal, last
night my son told me that he’s
engaged to a girl who isn’t Jew
ish. I cried about this all night,
the best ice cream
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Just
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and I’m calling you now for some
advice on what to do about this.
You seem to have some under
standing.”
But anyway this column is
rather about those four who have
written me lately on the matter
of intermarriage and what to do
about it. Their heads and hearts
have been heavy. Especially,
there’s this letter from a mother
who reads this column in Balti
more’s Jewish Times. She’s of
fering some comfort to the Cal
ifornia Jewish mother whose son
married a Catholic girl in Ger
many.
She’s saying in her letter: “My
son did the same thing when he
was in the Army. Although she
was not a Catholic girl and he
did not convert himself, he did
come home with a little ‘Shicksa.’
At first I felt just as sick as this
lady in California, and I was
about to dis-own them. My son
... a graduate of the Talmudical
Academy, devoted to Orthodox
living both at home and in schul
. . . had married this non-Jewish
girl!
“Well, I decided to make the
best of it because that was what
he wanted to make him happy,
and it was his life. So 1 accepted
the girl; I was nice to her. I
treated her the same as if she
were my daughter.
“On the fourth anniversary of
their marriage she decided she
wanted to become Jewish. She
was converted by three rabbis,
and Rabbi Miller married her by
ceremony in her home, and her
3-year-old daughter watching.
“Today they have a nice Orth
odox home, their daughter goes
to Hebrew and Sabbath school,
their son will be Bar Mitzvah
when the time comes. So, you see,
it pays to accept and to show
faithfully what it is to be a Jew,
and if the wife loves her Jewish
husband, there may come a time
for her to accept his religion. Yes,
our way of life can be so good
and beautiful that the non-Jew
ish wife can see for herself how
the Jews want to live ... a life
of bliss and purity. Tell the lady
in California by all means to ac
cept the girl her son married in
Germany, to be nice and mother
ly to her, and show her what
Jewish religion has meant to her
son . . . along the good way of his
life.”
Well, I applaud this Baltimore
mother’s way of looking at a non-
Jew coming into her family’s life.
What would it have meant to re
ject the son because he had mar
ried that girl? Yes, and I’m happy
to contribute a column to comfort
many a Jewish home in these
times.
And I have this letter from a
lady of our town, Cincinnati, who
writes: “Dear Sir: Perhaps I
should tell that my husband is
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shipped in all the houses of wor
ship.”
Still more: Gilbert G. Ross of
168 North Almont Drive, Beverly
Hills, California is writing to sug
gest some comfort to the Cali
fornia grandma who has been
feeling tragically troubled be
cause he grandson didn’t religi
ously marry right. Mr. Ross
writes: “If she is a woman of
some means, she can do much
to ease the pain she feels. She
can give generously to the Jew
ish Foundation Heritage Fund at
9640 Santa Monica Boulevard,
Beverly Hills, California. This
foundation has been placed in op
eration for comfort against such
tragedy as in this aged woman’s
life. America’s melting pot has
boiled over, and has begun to en
gulf second and third generations
of our American Jewish youth in
ever greater numbers.”
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