Whereas communal realities and attitudes toward intermarriage vary considerably within the United States and even more so when comparing American Jewish communities to the Jewish communities of Rabbinical Assembly members living in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Uganda, the United Kingdom, and Uruguay; and

Whereas in public settings, members of the Rabbinical Assembly are communal leaders entrusted with setting, modeling, and upholding communal standards in all domains of Jewish life – including marriage – and not value-neutral facilitators of others’ informed individual autonomy; and

Whereas human dignity, rooted in B’tzelem Elohim, requires respect for individuals’ right to make personal decisions, while also affirming the right – and at times the rabbinic obligation – to refrain from ritual affirmation or public blessing of those decisions; and

Whereas gratitude is due to those who have spent countless hours finding ways to support Jewish life in families with a non-Jewish partner; and

Whereas from the Torah through today, for reasons of both halakhah and aggadah, Jewish texts warn against,¹ condemn,² and prohibit³ marriages between a Jew and a non-Jew, while celebrating endogamy, as the prescribed Jewish marital pathway;⁴ and

Whereas even as the legal situation around intermarriage could be complex, there has always existed “a rabbinic belief (a priori assumption) that intermarriage should have been highly transgressive and clearly, consistently and effectively prohibited,”⁵ and

Whereas the Rabbinical Assembly’s Code of Professional Conduct (2024) states “Clergy of the Conservative/Masorti Movement may officiate at weddings only if both parties are Jewish. Officiation means signing documents or verbal participation of any kind,” and change from this standard that includes any public participation, especially of a ritual nature, in an intermarriage will be perceived by many Jews and non-Jews alike as endorsing that which our faith has forbidden for millennia;

Whereas the maintenance of clear communal boundaries strengthens the Jewish commitment of many Conservative/Masorti Jews, even as certain past approaches to intermarriage have led some individuals to disengage from Conservative/Masorti Judaism; and

Whereas the integrity of our rabbinate and the seriousness our mission depend upon maintaining clarity, trust, and rigor in matters of Jewish status, commitment, and conversion; and

Whereas halakhah, to which our movement is committed, is both normative and aspirational, even as it develops across time and space; 

Therefore be it resolved that the Rabbinical Assembly reaffirms Jewish endogamy as a value in the lives of Conservative/Masorti Jews; and

Be it further resolved that the Rabbinical Assembly reaffirms conversion to Judaism as the normative covenantal pathway for non-Jewish partners who seek full participation in Jewish marriage and communal life, and affirms that converts must be welcomed as full and complete Jews, while also maintaining the seriousness, accessibility, and rigor of the conversion process; and

Be it further resolved that the Rabbinical Assembly affirms the inherent dignity of non-Jewish partners and family members, created in the image of God, and recognizes that such individuals can and do play meaningful, constructive, and supportive roles in the creation and sustenance of Jewish homes and Jewish lives; and

Be it further resolved that the Rabbinical Assembly encourages Jewish home-building, irrespective of constituent individuals’ Jewish status, emphasizing inspiration, education, and aspiration rather than shame or coercion.

[1] (Gen 24:2-4; Ex 34:16; Deut 7:3-4)

[2] (Mal 2:11; Ezra 9-10; Neh 13:23-27)

[3] (mKiddushin 3:12; mYevamot 8:3; bAZ 36b; bYevamot 23a, 44b, 76b; bKiddushin 68b; Sifrei Devarim 7:3-4; MT Issurei Bi’ah 12:1-2; SA YD 112; The Observant Life pg. 263)

[4] (bKid 29b; GenR 17:2; GenR 68:4; PR 15:32; Ruth Zuta 4:11)

[5] Clenman, Laliv. “Is She Forbidden or Permitted” (bSanhedrin 82a): A Legal Study of Intermarriage in Classical Jewish Sources. Doctoral Thesis. 2009. pg 304. Available at https://share.google/Qoyqv8zp2hjSmk6Am