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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think that a lot of people here are not getting the point. She's not being asked to suppress her own identity. She is saying she is no longer going to practice Christianity or identify as a Christian. She is changing her identity. Many young people to not identify with a particular religion. Part of being an adult is forging one's own identify. A parent's identity is a parent's identity. Judaism is a tribe. We have people of all skin tones in our tribe. We have members of our tribe that have joined from other religions. We have members our tribe that were cut-off from mainstream Judaism and have different traditions as a result. All are valid members of our tribe. But our tribe is a small one. And we lose many members of our tribe every year due to our graying population, antisemitism, and, in some cases, intermarriage. It is difficult for a members of a majority culture to comprehend why passing our traditions on to our children is important - it is the continuation of our tribe. It's not selfish, it's not meant suppress anyone - it's a consequence of millennia of persecution, and existing as a minority. This woman's daughter is adult and she is free to make her own choices. For Jews, the fear is always that there is children will leave Judaism and become Christians (or another faith), meaning that the Jewish end of their family's history ends with them - that the line between generations is extinguished. It's painful. And it's not the same as when a Lutheran becomes a Baptist. [/quote]

Speaking as the non-Jewish wife ... if you really want to continue to pass down traditions, then you need to be more accepting of intermarriage. I've been told many times that my child "is not Jewish." So do you think I'm going to make much effort to raise him in those traditions? No, I am not.  [/quote]

according to traditional Jewish law,  which determines Jewish status for Orthodox and Conservative Jews, your child is NOT Jewish.   Within Reform, and to a lesser degree Conservative, [b]we have had extensive discussion of the impact of different approaches to intermarriage and which are better or worse for increasing the number of children raised as Jews.
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Your position is understandable.

But as a matter of numbers, the Jewish movement that is growing fastest is Orthodoxy.   Its not at all clear that altering Jewish law for the purpose of making unconverted intermarried couples more likely to raise their kids as Jewish is actually a winning strategy. [/quote]

I can tell you that this attitude almost definitively is to thank for one fewer child being raised in Jewish traditions .... so congratulations? 
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I’m not the poster above but he/she is correct. Statistics show that the generations following intermarriage are less observant.

What’s the difference between Donald Trump and a reform Jew? Trump has Jewish grandchildren. And yes, Ivanka is Jewish because she converted.

We all want to be accepting and loving and supportive. However, when it comes to this topic, feelings aren’t fact. [/quote]

Based on my experience, the generations following intermarriage are less observant in large part due to prejudice against intermarriage.  [/quote]

I respect your perspective. In my experience, it’s a combination of the reform movement and its leftism/social justice platform that has replaced religious teachings PLUS the prevalence of interfaith marriages/non observant parents. There’s barely any Hebrew spoken during recent services I’ve attended at reform synagogues. Kids are being dragged to Hebrew school two or three times a week and learning nothing. Services are rabbis using the bulky pulpit to bash The President and push a liberal agenda. Where are the biblical teachings? Where are our traditions? This is why reform Jews aren’t going to stay Jewish. There’s nothing binding them to it. It’s become a social club. [/quote]
I’m the PP who is raising an interfaith child in a reform synagogue. I was also raised reform. I’ve been a member of three congregations (the one in which I grew up; one in DC for ten years, and one in my current area). I have visited several other congregations. Your experiences haven’t been mine.

There is less Hebrew than in Conservative or Orthodox congregations, but it’s certainly not gone. Traditional prayers are still chanted in traditional ways (albeit maybe with more gender-inclusive language). Sermons are pertinent to the Torah portion read that week—in Hebrew and then translated into English by the way—and while they might have a social justice bent where appropriate, there has never been any stumping or president-bashing. There are educational programs not only for children but also for adults. All are well-attended. There are [i]also[/i] social events that help bond people to each other and entice them to come. [/quote]

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