In Jewish intermarraige, if the kids are raised with both faiths, how is this looked upon by Rabbi's?

Question

Would at some point the person have to convert to the Jewish faith?

Answer 1

Intermarriage is forbidden in Judaism.

So that such a sin is regarded similarly to eating pork or stealing.

Answer 2

It's looked at as being confusing to childre, at the very least. Race and ethnicity are only skin deep and don't really matter, but religion goes to the very soul. A family devided along religious lines is devided in the very deapest ways. You end up witha lot of resentment, weird relative situations (like the mother wanting a circumcision, and her mother in law secretly baptising the baby in the kitchen sink a Catholic. True story.), and confuesed children. A child raised with two religions has really not been raised with either. That's just on the practical level.

Religiously, intermarriage or any physical intimacy with a non-Jew is an extremley grave sin in Judaism. The Torah specifically speaks to the issue of mixed faith marriages, "You shall not take their daughters for your sons. You shall not give your daughters to their sons, for they will turn your children away from Me." Notice the reason given is religious and has nothing to do with ethnicity. The Sages say the penalty for this sin is that the Jew involved loses his or her portion in the World to Come.

If a person does do this, the children are born members of the Covenant if the mother was Jewish, and are required to keap the commandments and reap the rewards and punishments for obedience and disobedience respectively. If she was not, they are part of the general family of mankind, reuquired to live by basic human decency rules, but are not required to obey the entire Torah like a Jewish person is.

Answer 3

Jewish Law states clearly: The religion follows the mother. If the mother is a Jew, the kids are Jews. If not, not. Any non-Jew who wishes to be a Jew must convert.

In 1975, the Reform movement adopted patrilineal descent. However, there is no basis for this and the rest of Judaism does not recognize the children of Jewish fathers and non-Jewish mothers to be jews.

Answer 4

If the mother is Jewish, the kids will be considered Jewish.

Answer 5

i converted reform (my hubby and i converted together actually) - our rabbi will only convert someone if they agree to at least pick only one faith in which to raise their child - it did not matter to her which faith, and she did not have a problem with intermarriage in general, but both was not an option in her opinion.

there are differences not only among the different sects, as another poster stated, but also among rabbis. if the couple is already married, it would be up to them how they handled this. amazon has some really terrific books on the subject and how to gracefully handle things like holidays.

http://www.amazon.com/Making-Successful-Jewish-Interfaith-Marriage/dp/1580231705

http://www.amazon.com/Celebrating-Interfaith-Marriages-Creating-Christian/dp/0805060839

Answer 6

If the mother is Jewish, so are the kids. If not, they will have to convert.

Answer 7

Depends on what part of Judaism they are generally more lax version like reformed may nt care to much but the Orthadox will get very pissy.