LITTLE ROCK — As weddings go, it’s hard to find a more high-profile event than the forthcoming marriage of Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky. After all, she’s the daughter of two of the world’s best-known political figures - former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
But the wedding is also drawing attention for another reason. Barring conversion by one or the other, this will be an interfaith marriage. Clinton, 30, was baptized as a United Methodist as a child in Little Rock and Mezvinsky, 32, is a Conservative Jew. An investment banker, he’s the son of two former Democratic congressmen - Ed Mezvinsky, in Iowa, and Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky, in Pennsylvania.
Their nuptials later this month have been causing a buzz in the Jewish community in particular, especially after Clinton was seen attending high holiday services at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York last year.
“It’s the Vatican City of Conservative Judaism,” said Rabbi Jacob Adler of Temple Shalom in Fayetteville. “So there’s been speculation Chelsea might convert.”
Edmund Case, chief executive officer of the Interfaith Family organization in Newton, Mass., says for him, the big question isn’t whether Clinton will convert. It’s will she have a Jewish wedding?
Case said many interfaith couples with one Jewish partner elect to have a Jewish wedding, and he hopes that’s the case with the Clinton/Mezvinsky wedding.
“We think conversion is a wonderful thing but we don’t promote it,” he said. “My organization is a Jewish organization and our mission is to encourage couples to make Jewish choices.”
That means having a Jewish ceremony and rearing the children in the faith.
Case said he sees interfaith marriages as an opportunity rather than a detriment to the Jewish community, but admits that view isn’t accepted by all.
“I still feel like I’m fighting with people in the Jewish community all the time and that it’s contentious,” he said. “There are still people who want to discourage intermarriage, who say it’s wrong, it’s bad, it’s a problem and those who say we need to encourage Jews to marry other Jews, which is very hard to do.”
With the percentage of Jews hovering around 2 percent of the U.S. population, interfaith marriage among Jews is almost an unavoidable reality in America. That hasn’t always been the case, Adler said.
“Historically, intermarriage was inconceivable,” he said. “The world was divided into religious communities and inter-religious couples didn’t make sense.”
Adler said Jews whose children married out of the faith would go through shiva - the mourning ritual - as if their child had died.
“Someone would say, ‘How is your son?’ and they would say, ‘I have no son. He is dead,’” Adler said.
American’s views on intermarriage changed radically in the 1960s, and by the 1970s the rate of interfaith marriage was rising rapidly. Today, more than 40 percent of Jews marry a partner of another faith, Adler said. But that doesn’t mean all Jews find the practice acceptable.
“In Orthodox Judaism an intermarried person would be ostracized,” Adler said. Conservative Jews, who are less conservative than the Orthodox, are not in favor of interfaith marriages either, but Adler said the non-Jewish spouse would not be shunned. Mezvinsky comes from a Conservative Jewish family and Adler said a Conservative rabbi would not be permitted to take part in the wedding.
Interfaith marriages are more acceptable to the more liberal Reform and Reconstructionist branches of Judaism and it’s up to the individual rabbi to search his conscience on whether or not to officiate the wedding.
“Many, in fact, do perform intermarriages,” Adler said. “But there’s still a pretty strong taboo against co-officiation - [having a rabbi and clergy from another faith officiate].Some will do that but ... it’s one of the only red-line things that will get you in trouble in my Reform tradition.”
Adler said he does marry interfaith couples, but with conditions. He recently married a Jewish groom and Catholic bride. They had two ceremonies - a Jewish wedding in the afternoon and a renewal of vows at a Catholic church later in the day.
“It had to be separated that way or I couldn’t have done it,” Adler said.
Adler said many non-Orthodox rabbis will officiate an interfaith marriage if they believe the couple are committed to establishing a Jewish family by rearing their children in the faith, regardless of whether the partner converts.
The Clinton wedding is set for July 31, reportedly in Rhinebeck, a village in upstate New York. It’s a Saturday, which could be telling. The Jewish Sabbath begins at sundown on Friday and continues until sundown on Saturday, and during that time a Jewish wedding typically would not be permitted.
“Reform rabbis will sometimes do it on a Saturday but it’s pretty uncommon. You have to wink at it but sometimes rabbis declare 6 o’clock sundown so that’s a possibility,” Adler said. “But [having it on a Saturday] makes it seem less likely that it will be a Jewish wedding.”
One Arkansas rabbi’s name has been tossed around as a possible officiant, but Rabbi Eugene Levy said he hasn’t even been invited to the wedding.
“Because I’ve had connections to the Clinton family people ask me, ‘Are you doing the wedding?’” Levy said. “But I’ve been by the phone since February and it hasn’t rung yet,” he added with a laugh.
Levy of Temple B’nai Israel, a Reform Jewish congregation in Little Rock, said when he came to Little Rock years ago it had been his practice not to officiate at interfaith weddings.
“They asked me here anyway thinking they could change me, which they did,” he said. “But I still meet with the couple and talk to them about the problems and challenges of a mixed marriage. A marriage is hard enough when you are of the same religion.”
Alan Levenson, professor of Jewish history at the University of Oklahoma, said a traditional Jewish wedding is more than just a romantic event.
“It also has a contractual nature,” Levenson said. “The key formula is you are betrothed to me according to Moses and the laws of Israel. That formula, at least until contemporary times, has been seen only meaningful if used between two Jews.”
Even today, he said, there’s a strong preference in the rabbinate that the non-Jewish partner converts. Those preferences don’t always sift down to the laity.
“There’s a big disconnect in American Jewry between the rabbinic leadership and the rank and file,” Levenson said. “Most Jewish parents say, ‘So long as my child is marrying someone who loves them and is a reputable person and if they are willing to raise their kids with Jewish tradition,’ most American Jews find that’s enough to alleviate their concerns.”
Levenson said the faith of the children is a concern because the continuity of the faith is the key issue for most Jews.
“The issue is ... what are the consequences for Jewish continuity given that Jews are a minority?” he said. “There’s a lot of disagreement about that. Some people think that American Jewry is going to disappear and just fall into the general population. Other people are super optimistic and think it will greatly strengthen.”
Levenson said intermarriage contributes to the diversity of the American Jewish community, which he considers to be a good thing. Despite the varying views on intermarriage, he thinks Clinton will be welcomed into the community.
“Not everyone gets to marry a Clinton, true?” he said. “That will be a big deal.”
As for the Methodist view of interfaith marriages, William Lawrence, dean of Perkins School of Theology in Dallas, said the denomination has no official position on the issue. It’s up to each individual minister to decide whether or not to conduct an interfaith wedding. As for Mezvinsky, regardless of how the wedding is conducted, Lawrence said he will be welcome in the denomination.
“Lots of United Methodist churches have interfaith couples in the fold,” he said.
Lawrence said one of the most difficult questions the couple will face will be how to raise their children. It’s also a decision he said most couples postpone because the questions are so daunting - what will they do about holidays, will they be reared in both traditions or one, will there be a bar mitzvah or a confirmation?
“What happens with some couples is they do neither. It’s too difficult to face the questions,” Lawrence said.
Case, of Interfaithfamily.com, said his organization offers a referral service for couples seeking Jewish clergy willing to officiate a mixed marriage. Last year, they received 1,250 requests. This year, they’re on pace to receive 1,600.
“To me that’s an indication there’s an interest in a lot of couples in participating in Jewish life, not just at their wedding but in the future,” Case said.
As for Adler, he’s as curious about the wedding as others in the Jewish community but regardless of how the ceremony plays out, he says Clinton will be welcomed into the family.
“Most of us feel we’ll be very happy to have Chelsea as part of the family whatever they decide to do in terms of marriage,” he said. “To have a prominent person as part of a Jewish family in some ways is something we’ll feel proud of ... She’s a great person to have in the family.”
Religion, Pages 12 on 07/24/2010