Jewish Family Issues Jewish Family Issues AJC Intermarriage Survey, September 2000 List of publications American Jewish Committee Statement on Intermarriage One of the objectives of the American Jewish Committee is to help insure Jewish continuity and Jewish identity. AJC studies as well as other studies show that the rapidly rising number of intermarriages presents a serious risk to the vitality of the Jewish community, Jewish continuity, and Jewish identity. Clearly the Jewish community prefers that Jews marry other Jews. Given the increase in the number of intermarriages, and in the spirit of transforming them into opportunities, we must also reach out to and welcome intermarried couples in order to strengthen their relationship with the community and preserve the Jewish identification of the home. In other words, the challenge for the Jewish community is to offer positive communal and personal connection to intermarrieds while at the same time to develop and encourage programs that lead to Jews marrying other Jews.
Intermarriage clearly is on the rise.
According to the Council of Jewish Federations' 1990 National Jewish Population Survey, it appears that since 1985 intermarriage rates have increased even further. In addition, further evidence indicates conversions to Judaism are on the decrease. These findings present a double challenge of conversion and outreach. Findings from the 1983 AJC study on children of intermarriages indicated that children of these mixed marriages, absent conversion, will seldom identify as Jews when they become adults. Although some individual rabbis do solemnize an intermarriage, prohibitions against performing mixed marriages have remained largely intact among all branches of Judaism.