And The Intermarried Jewish Woman Award Goes To ... Esther!

Posted: Fri, 03/02/2012 - 13:54 | Julie Wiener's In the Mix

Apologies for the infrequent attendance here in blogland. I was on a reporting trip in Florida last week, and am still catching up on things. Plus, I managed to get drafted (OK, I recklessly volunteered) to chair my temple’s Purim carnival, which, as you can imagine, consumes just a fair amount of time.

Speaking of Purim, I believe The Book of Esther is the only Bible story in which a) a Jewish woman intermarries and b) the intermarriage actually directly benefits the larger Jewish community, since Esther is able to use her standing with the king to rescue her people.

The Mom That Has No Name

Posted: Tue, 02/21/2012 - 15:07 | Julie Wiener's In the Mix

In her groundbreaking “The Feminine Mystique,” Betty Friedan famously referred to “the problem that has no name.”

A few weeks ago I took on the mom that has no name: the fact that we have no pithy and consistent way of identifying non-Jewish women raising Jewish children.

InterfaithFamily.com graciously put out a call on Twitter and on its blog seeking suggestions.

Fun With Top 10 Lists And Sheldon Adelson

Posted: Thu, 02/16/2012 - 14:45 | Julie Wiener's In the Mix

I’m traveling to South Florida next week for work (and sun exposure), so I was excited to check out a new study of Florida's Jewish demographics.

Gentile And Other 'Unorthodox' Moms

Posted: Fri, 02/10/2012 - 13:56 | Julie Wiener's In the Mix

I’m still looking for good names for gentile women raising Jewish kids. Perhaps someone like the Jewish Outreach Institute or InterfaithFamily.com should sponsor a contest, hint hint.

Hopefully they’d come up with something better than JOI Associate Executive Director Paul Golin’s (joking I hope) suggestion to me, via Facebook, that we call them MORBs: mothers of other religious backgrounds. A bit too close to “morbid” for my taste.

The Latest Interfaith Custody Nightmare

Posted: Thu, 02/02/2012 - 15:25 | Julie Wiener's In the Mix

Whew, here’s an interfaith breakup/custody case that makes the Joseph and Rebecca Reyes one a few years ago seem pretty tame: a French Jewish woman suing her Saudi prince ex for custody of their 10-year-old daughter Aya (interestingly, the Reyes’ daughter had a similarly palindromic name: Ela). According to the Telegraph: