While I was reading Heather Robinson’s editorial (“Jewish-American Women And Intermarriage,” Nov. 8) it reminded me of the sad love story, “Splendor in the Grass” starring Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty. The young couple was prevented from ever getting married due to parental disapproval.
Jennifer Marcus Crivella’s painful decision not to marry her high school sweetheart because he wasn’t Jewish sounded similar to the plot of the movie. However, after a number of years she did eventually marry her non-Jewish boyfriend (although she didn’t know he would eventually convert).
Also in the article Robinson writes that another Jewish woman, Millicent Levy-McCarthy wonders “why it is more vital to marry Jewish than to marry a wonderful human being.”
Attitudes such as these are the very reasons why the non-Orthodox among us are dramatically shrinking. If Levy-McCarthy doesn’t understand the importance of marrying Jewish then something went awry in her Jewish upbringing.
Does Levy-McCarthy wonder why it is more vital to eat kosher than to eat a wonderful lobster? Does Marcus-Crivella find it a painful decision not to go to the movies on a Friday night or a Saturday afternoon? Just as kashrut and Shabbat are vital to Jewish survival, marrying Jewish is even more vital to our survival.
Anything in life that is worthwhile and beneficial demands some sacrifice. I, for one, and fortunately millions of others feel as I do; the future of Judaism and the Jewish people is paramount. Moreover, the joys and benefits of being Jewish as well as the eternal wisdom it brings to us (and to the world) significantly outweigh any of the minor sacrifices we have to make.
Roslyn Heights, L.I.
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