One of our recent Bat Mitzvahs, Molly Hamilton, chose as her research topic “Growing up Jewish in an Interfaith Family."  Since CHJ is fortunate to have so many interfaith families, I thought the following excerpt from Molly’s paper would be of interest to many. Thank you Molly for allowing me to take liberties with your paper, and for sharing it with the rest of the congregation --Donna Soucy

I call myself Jewish, and then tell people that my dad’s Catholic. Or sometimes I’ll  say I’m half Jewish and half Catholic. I never really knew what label to put on myself. I went to Bnai Israel Sunday School starting when I was 4, and then finished my last 4 years at CHJ, and here I am right now, becoming bat mitzvah. So does this mean I’m Jewish? But what about when it’s Christmas morning and my family is gathered around the Christmas tree together? At that moment am I Catholic? So what DO I call myself?

I chose Growing up Jewish in an Interfaith Family as my bat mitzvah topic because I wanted to explore my religious identity, and get a better understanding of who I really was.  I decided to do my own interviews of families where parents are from different faiths…to find out what people were feeling about their own interfaith marriages and how other kids felt about their dual identities.

Like me, everyone I interviewed also celebrated both Jewish and Christian holidays. Daffodil said “I love the fact that my family celebrates all holidays and that I have been exposed to both religions, and both cultures.”

Nobody had a real problem being in an interfaith family. As Daisy said, “it’s not so much of an issue today. Religion is what people turn to for comfort and now more people are secular so it doesn’t make much of a difference.”

As Chrysanthemum told me, “I like being a product of an interfaith family, and I will always consider myself Jewish.”

But what will happen to the Jewish population if the rate of intermarriage continues at 50% or more? There IS some good news.

A 2006 study of Jewish college students by Hillel found that 47% of all students in American colleges who call themselves Jewish came from interfaith homes like mine! What contributes to these kids viewing themselves as Jews?

Kids in interfaith families who get a Jewish education and have a Bar or Bat Mitzvah are far more likely to identify as Jews than those who don’t. Also, if the mother is Jewish, the children tend to identify as Jewish more often (77%) than if the father is the Jewish parent (45%). It helps if the non-Jewish parent is supportive, as mine is.

There are so many websites devoted to the growing number of Jewish interfaith families that I am not worried that Judaism will die out. In fact, it looks like people like me might become the majority of Jews in America.

By Molly Hamilton

 Look what Beth Ulman discovered! She went to the Westport News' website and typed "humanistic" in the Search box at the top of the page.  The results are dynamic, which means they will change as new articles meet the criteria, but scroll down and you'll see a history of the Congregation's recent finest moments, with photos. Many of these articles were contributed by Beth herself. Thank you, Beth. Try it yourself!