The Rabbinical Council of America, an association of Orthodox Rabbis, approved a resolution today at its 47th annual convention, which “deplored and denounced” a resolution adopted for the Reform movement at the March convention of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) proposing changes in procedures for determining Jewish identity of children of mixed marriages.
The Rabbinical Council resolution declared that “Jewish identity by birth throughout the ages has been determined by all Jews as deriving from the Jewishness of the natural mother. This principle has preserved the unity of the Jewish people.”
The resolution declared that the CCAR action “is destroying the oneness of the Jewish people and publicly inviting and encouraging intermarriage. A child born to a non-Jewish mother is not Jewish and no statement to the contrary can legitimize its Jewish identity.”
The Rabbinical Council delegates “urged” the CCAR “to reverse this deplorable decision,” and called on the Rabbinical Council president to name a commission “to educate the Jewish community to this schismatic nature and dangerous implications” of the CCAR resolution.
The Rabbinical Council resolution asked that the proposed commission “take whatever actions are necessary to insure the halachic integrity of the Jewish family.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
