Rabbi Angela Warnick Buchdahl, in her Opinion essay, “The Power Of ‘Yes’ On Interfaith Officiation” (March 31), suggests rabbis should officiate at weddings of Jews and non-Jews because, as she puts it, “They may not become b’nai Yisrael (children of Israel, a.k.a. Jews), but they become bonai Yisrael, builders of Israel and our communities.”
Rabbi Warnick Buchdahl also wrote that often the non-Jewish spouse spurs the Jewish spouse to be more “Jewishly engaged.” If the Jewish spouse was at all Jewishly engaged, he or she would never even consider marrying outside the faith. Finally, if we need non-Jews to build our communities and encourage Jewish observance, we are in much bigger trouble than anyone imagined.
Kew Gardens Hills, Queens
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