Dating fellow members of the tribe was the topic last night, as author Doron Kornbluth spoke at the Chabad House. Kornbluth wrote the book, Why Marry Jewish? Surprising Reasons for Jews to Marry Jews.
Around 30 students showed up to hear his lecture discussing the facts and figures behind the well-known concern over interfaith marriage that many Jews have.
Chabad Rabbi Yossi Winner introduced Kornbluth, who spoke for an hour and a half. Kornbluth opened by telling the audience that 55 percent of weddings are intermarriages.
His essential argument for marrying Jewish was that “The Beatles were wrong; you need more than love.”
Kornbluth stated that having the same religion as your spouse, no matter what your religion might be. “is better for marriages.” He said that the average marriage only lasts 4-6 years but that the more two people have in common, especially religion, the better the chances their marriage will last.
He also said that marrying Jewish is important for one’s children, and to keep a family Jewish. He declared that kids who grow up in mixed families are often confused and uncertain about their own religion and are unlikely to keep Judaism as part of their life as they age. Kornbluth said that 92 percent of kids from homes with only one parent who is Jewish will not marry a Jew. They need an “unambiguous Jewish identity,” he said.
Reasons for not dating Jews, even before one expects to marry, whether it be for experience or simply unconcern about the future, don’t measure up under scrutiny, Kornbluth claimed. He said that what you do now will affect what you do in the future, and that with 1.5 million single Jews in the United States in at least 15 major metropolitan areas, there is no reason not to date Jewish.
The audience held a wide variety of opinions on the ideas Kornbluth expressed but all approached by CampusJ agreed when asked that he had very compelling arguments.