Is Intermarriage Good for the Jews?

The very meaning of intermarriage has shifted with these demographic changes. In earlier periods, intermarriage was generally seen as a rejection of Jewish identity and a form of rebellion against the community. These days, intermarriage doesn’t necessarily spell the end of an active Jewish life or of Jewish lineage.

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Book Review | The Origin of the Jews: The Quest for Roots in a Rootless Age by Steven Weitzman

As the subtitle of the book says, we live in a rootless age. People everywhere, not just Jews, seek their roots, their ancestry, their genetic makeup. We yearn to discover who we are; alas, our tools are not always up to the task. But there is pleasure in the pursuit, and we should be grateful to Weitzman for being a reliable guide.

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Book Essay // Refracted Identities, Mirrored Lives

Suleiman’s new book, The Némirovsky Question: The Life, Death and Legacy of a Jewish Writer in 20th-Century France, explores Némirovsky’s tragic career and the deteriorating civil society of pre-World War II France that first nurtured the writer and then ultimately turned on her. Drawing on parallels to her own life, Suleiman makes of the story a meditation on allegiance, foreignness and assimilation—one with uncanny echoes for today’s politics.

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Ask The Rabbis // How do we balance civility with disapproval for others’ politics?

INDEPENDENT We should learn from our sages. Even though they disagreed vehemently on issues of law and politics more than 2,000 years ago, they would leave the House of Study following each debate holding each other’s hands. And even though some of their disagreements involved the laws around marriage and divorce, they gladly allowed their sons and daughters to marry one another anyway (Talmud Bav’li, Yevamos 13b). “When a scholar issues an opinion, we do not compel him to retract, nor do we reject him…nor do we accuse him of being prideful” (Talmud Bav’li, Chulin 6b-7a). We can also learn from God, with whom we have been in disagreement on and off ever since the first circumcision. In the words of God as filtered through the Talmud: “Even if the Israelites worship idols but there...

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