Rothschild Heiress Engaged to Gentile

The established tradition in the Rothschild family that none of its male members should marry out of their faith, while no such restriction is imposed on female members of the family, has received further confirmation with the announcement of the engagement of Miss Rosemary de Rothschild to Dennis Gomer Berry.

Lionel de Rothschild, father of the bride-to-be, is president of the United Synagogue, president of the Jewish War Memorial, treasurer of the Jewish Board of Guardians, and one of the most vigorous opponents of Zionism. The father of the bridegroom-elect, Sir Gomer Berry, is a publisher and newspaper proprietor.

In accordance with the Rothschild tradition, Mr. Berry will not be required to adopt the Jewish religion, while Miss Rothschild will continue to remain a Jewess. Female members of the Rothschild family have always kept to this custom, and after their marriage have attended the synagogue, contributed to Jewish charities and cultural institutions and have finally been buried in Jewish cemeteries. Their children, however, are brought up in the faith of their father.

Male members of the Rothschild family, however, practically without exception, have never married out of faith. On the same day that the announcement of Miss Rosemary Rothschild’s engagement was made, the marriage was solemnized between Victor Rothschild and Miss Barbara Hutchinson. Miss Hutchinson became a Jewess before she married, and the marriage ceremony was carried out in accordance with Jewish ritual, with a silk canopy, broken wine glass, “seven benedictions”, and an officiating rabbi.