Interfaith

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Interfaith

What Emanu-El Means When Using the Term “Interfaith”

When Emanu-El says “interfaith” in the context of “interfaith couple” or “interfaith family” or “people in interfaith relationships,” we’re inclusive of both immediate and extended families – interfaith couples where one person is Jewish and one is not, couples that include converts to Judaism who still have non-Jewish relatives, people with one Jewish parent, parents of intermarried children, grandparents of children being raised by intermarried parents, etc.Interfaith families may include those who identify their family as Jewish, as more than one religion, as a “faithist” couple – one that tries to connect two partners’ point’s of view, one Jewish with a belief in a higher power and the other, an atheist looking at different interpretations and connections to Jewish traditions and custom, or who are unsure of how they identify. Our goal is to meet these families where they are and facilitate deeper connection to Jewish life. In addition, we recommend interfaithfamily.com as a valuable resource.

JewAsian Fireside Conversation & Shavuot Celebration

Tuesday, May 30
7:00 – 9:00 pm
Congregation Emanu-El

On the evening of May 30^th we will observe the festival of Shavuot, which celebrates matan Torah, the giving of Torah at Mt. Sinai and the spring harvest in the land of Israel. It is traditional on this evening for communities to gather for a Tikun Leil Shavuot, an evening of communal learning, and we are so excited that this year, we will feature Helen Kiyong Kim and Noah Samuel Leavitt , the authors of JewAsian-– Race, Religion, and Identity for American’s Newest Jews.

You can register for the Shavuot dinner here. Dinner starts at 5:45 pm.
Come join our Shavuot Service at 6:15 pm in the Chapel.

JewAsian is a qualitative examination of the intersection of race, religion and ethnicity in the increasing number of households that are Jewish American and Asian American. Helen Kiyong Kim and Noah Samuel Leavitt’s book, JewAsian – Race, Religion and Identity for American’s Newest Jews explores the larger social dimensions of intermarriages to explain how these particular unions reflect not only the identity of married individuals but also the communities to which they belong. Using in-depth interviews with couples and the children of Jewish American and Asian American marriages, Kim and Leavitt’s research sheds much-needed light on the everyday lives of these partnerships and how their children negotiate their own identities in the twenty-first century.

In 2010 approximately 15 percent of all new marriages in the United States were between spouses of different racial, ethnic, or religious backgrounds, raising increasingly relevant questions regarding the multicultural identities of new spouses and their offspring. Join us as Rabbi Ryan Bauer interviews Helen Kim and Noah Leavitt on their new book and their new findings; what does this mean for our interracial Jewish community?

Please register and come attend to what is sure to be a fascinating evening!

Interested in learning more about Judaism? Take a look at Introduction to Judaism.