Letter to the EditorWe should not be reluctant to welcome interfaith families

There are consequences to being inhospitable

If we do not welcome the interfaith families of today, there will not be any Jewish community tomorrow.

August 14, 2018, 10:46 am 0 Edit

Panel discussion of 2017 Greater Pittsburgh Jewish Community Study. From left: Rabbi Danny Schiff, Foundation Scholar; Brian Schreiber, president and CEO of the JCC; Stacey Reibach, board member of Beth El Congregation of the South Hills; David Weisberg, president of Temple Emanuel of South Hills; Jonathan Fischer, vice chair of SHJP; and Raimy Rubin, manager of the Pittsburgh Jewish Community Scorecard. Photo courtesy of David Rullo

Some are reluctant to welcome interfaith couples, but the 2017 Pittsburgh Jewish Community Survey notes that such couples represent 44 percent of all the married Jewish households here and that they are raising 33 percent of the children in our Jewish community (“Consensus lacking at South Hills forum on Jewish future,” June 8).

Consider the Torah in Parshat Vayera, in which God promises Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the heavens, but Sarah bore no child. Three strangers passed by and Abraham begged them to enjoy his hospitality. He prepared a feast for them. Only then did Sarah become pregnant and bear Isaac.

If Abraham had not welcomed the strangers back then, there would not be any Jewish community today. So too, if we do not welcome the interfaith families of today, there will not be any Jewish community tomorrow.

Lee Feldman
Dormont