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THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE November 28, 1986 Page 17
Sisterhoods call for membership guidelines
KIAMESHA LAKE, N Y.—
Women’s League for Conserva
tive Judaism has called upon the
Movement’s Committee on Law
and Standards to determine
whether or not the non-Jewish
woman in a mixed marriage can
become a sisterhood member.
At the biennial meeting of the
Women’s League representing
200,000 members, a resolution
was adopted saying, “We recog
nize with concern the growing
rate of mixed marriages and the
resultingsituations that continue
to arise across the country in our
affiliated sisterhoods.
“We move that the question of
the role of sisterhood of the non-
Jewish wife of a Jewish member
of the synagogue be referred to
the Committee of Law and Stand
ards of the Rabbinical Assembly
to explore all facets of the ques
tion and establish standards and
guidelines for the synagogue and
its affiliated organizations.”
At the same time. Women’s
League called for the develop
ment of an educational and cul
tural outreach program to the
non-Jewish woman partner in a
mixed marriage. The resolution
said: “We recognize the needs of
non-Jewish women, married to
Jewish men, whether affiliated or
unaffiliated with a synagogue,
who have expressed the desire to
pursue Jewish aims and ideals.
We wish to encourage their par
ticipation in Jewish community
life.”
At present, the Rabbinical
Assembly’s law committee has
ruled that the 1,200 member Con
servative rabbis should not accept
mixed married couples as members
into their congregation. However,
no sanction process exists and
there are some Conservative
rabbis who have permitted mixed
couples to become synagogue
members.
Rabbi Kassel Abelson of M in-
neapolis, president of the Rab
binical Assembly, in earlier re
marks to the convention called
for Conservative Judaism to
establish guidelines'on how to
deal with mixed married couples,
and especially their children.
“We must determine the entire
question of mixed marriages, es
tablishing programs in each con
gregation which will deal with
these questions and bring the
family closer to Judaism and
closer to the synagogue, so that
children of all mixed marriages
will be raised as Jews. And w here
interest develops, because the
family is warmly welcomed into
the congregation and their prob
lems sympathetically dealt with,
we may discover that the non-
Jewish spouse will, at some point,
opt to study about Judaism and
even to convert to Judaism.”
Abelson indicated that many
congregations in the Conserva
tive movement are confronted
throughout the year with such
questions as: Should the children
be allowed to be bar or bat
mitzva or even to get married in
the congregation? “There is
scarcely a Jewish family in our
congregations that has not been
touched by this problem in the
person of a child marrying out
side of the faith,” he added.
Phyllis Haas of Philadelphia,
a past national vice president of
Women’s League, agreed that
dealing with non-Jewish spouses
in a mixed marriage becomes a
sensitive problem, which has been
on the increase in’Conservative
congregations over the past
number of years. Mrs. Haas feels
that only Halachically converted
couples should be accepted as
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members of congregations, espe
cially since it would be rather
difficult for non-Jewish affiliated
members to vote on the poiicv
matters of a Jewish house of
worship.
Another viewpoint was ex
pressed by Margery Saulson ol
Detroit, Mich., Women’s League’s
Michigan branch president, who
agreed that the question of non-
Jewish spouses must be dealt
with. “We must embrace her and
encourage her in the study of
Judaism.” she said. “If we make
the non-Jewish female partner
welcome, we can undoubtedly
elicit a voluntary conversion, since
she w ill recognize the wholesome
quality of religious Judaism and
the enrichment that such practi
ces bring to the entire Jewish
familv.”
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