Posted by Simcha on August 28, 2001, at 12:52:30
In reply to Re: WHAT ABOUT??? » Simcha, posted by mair on August 28, 2001, at 12:33:50
Mair,
There is a very strong warning in the Torah for Jews to not marry non-Jews. Many Rabbis don't feel comfortable with mixed marriages. The whole thing centers on a premise that a Jewish wedding should be the beginning of a Jewish family, in a Jewish home, raising Jewish children so that there will be more Jews.
Most Rabbis will not officiate at a wedding that includes a Christian Minister because of the Jesus thing. Almost all prayers end in,"through Christ our Lord, Amen." There is no way any Jew could say "Amen" to that. "Amen" is Hebrew for "It is so" or "Yes, it is." A Rabbi would not be willing to go against his/her own Jewish beliefs to officiate at a ceremony where Jesus would be mentioned as anyone more than a Jew who lived about 2000 years ago who was killed by the Romans.
We Jews have this aversion to polytheism. Any inkling that there might be more than One G-d prayed to in a ceremony would send a Rabbi packing. There were nasty things that happened to Jews in the Torah who insisted on worshipping other gods. OK so Christians don't see it this way but to us Jews the Trinity sounds like three gods.
It is very interesting to note that the Reform Synagogue in Chicago that has a special ministry toward gay Jews, Or Chadash, is led by a female Rabbi who will not marry Jews and non-Jews. She will NOT marry a non-Jewish man to a Jewish woman. She will NOT marry a non-Jewish woman to a Jewish woman. She WILL marry a Jewish woman to a Jewish woman. She is fair in her ways. It is her choice. If a Jew wants to marry a non-Jew she will direct them to a Rabbi who will be willing to perform the marriage.
Incidentally, it does not require a Rabbi to officiate at a Jewish wedding. All it takes is for a couple, any couple, to say the vows in Hebrew and to sign a "Ketubah" (marriage contract) in front of witnesses. I find that even many Jews do not know about this.
> > Simcha - your post was incredibly interesting and not something I was aware of at all. Why doesn't that liberalism extend to non-jews? My husband is Jewish. When he and I were married 18 years ago we could have had our pick of any number of rabbis who would perform the ceremony but none who would be willing to act as a co-celebrant with a priest or minister. What was the reluctance to "share the stage" all about? All of this made sense to me then but I honestly can't recall now what explanation I was given.
>
> Mair
poster:Simcha
thread:10346
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20010825/msgs/10404.html