February 2012 ~ Shevat–Adar 5772 - Maimonides School

February 2012 ~ Shevat–Adar 5772Page 2 of 3Kol BogreiRambamConnecting Maimonides Alumni WorldwideGraduate Battles Assimilation, Intermarriage with Gem of a ProgramThere are many who hear about acatastrophe and shake their headsin sadness. There are some whoreact by trying to help repair thedamage. Then there are others whowork to prevent it from continuingor happening again. Rabbi ZviFriedman ’73 is one of the latter, andhe is making a difference.“Each year at Maimonides we weretaught about the Holocaust, and ourteachers hammered into us, ‘Neveragain’,” Zvi stated. “And yet, throughintermarriage and assimilation, wehave lost far more Jews since theHolocaust than we did in the Holocaust-- and few are doing anythingabout it.”“The greatest challenge that theworldwide Jewish community isfacing is intermarriage and assimilation,”he continued. “The intermarriagerate for secular Jews ages19-38 has been over 70 percent formore than a decade. The fact that 95percent of the children of intermarriedcouples intermarry themselves, andalmost none of them raise their kidsas Jews, should alarm each of us. Only20 percent of college-age studentswho identify themselves as Jews dateand marry only Jews – this meansthat more than 80 percent of collegeageJews are dating, and many aremarrying, non-Jews.”“The problem is not just the students,”he added. “Entire Jewish communitiesin Europe have disappearedwhen their intermarriage rate hit 100percent, and it is happening aroundthe globe. The worldwide Jewishpopulation drops 150,000 a year. TheU.S. population is losing the largestnumber, 100,000 per year.”Zvi is executive director of JEWEL(www.jewel4women.com), AishHaTorah’s introductory program inIsrael for women ages 19-30 withlittle or no Jewish education. “Theycome from all over the world tolearn what it means to be a Jew. This‘come-as-you-are’ program combinesoutstanding classes and volunteerwork with exciting weekly tripsaround the country,” Zvi said. “JEWELis the perfect balance of touring, fun,learning and personal growth.”Jewel runs five 3½-week sessionsa year. The results speak for themselves.More than 90 percent of JEWELgraduates commit to marry Jews, Zvireported. “The most notable statisticat JEWEL is that over 60 percent ofthe graduates of the program end upfrum – a process that can take up tofive years. JEWEL stays connected tothese young women throughout theprocess and beyond.”The women are referred to theprogram by campus and communityrabbis. Occasionally candidates maketheir own connections, finding JEWELthrough the Internet or by referralsfrom family or friends. “All of theseyoung women are ‘searching’ for moremeaning in their lives, and what reallyattracts them is that, after havingexperienced Birthright, they wantto get back to Israel. And we offer ahighly subsidized way of getting backto Israel,” he said, noting that afterJEWEL, many choose to stay in Israelto continue their learning or return toIsrael after they complete their collegedegrees.Zvi said his biggest challenge is financial.“Our average scholarship is inexcess of $2,500 and the most obvioussource of revenue– the participants’parents – mostly are not interestedin contributing because they don’tcare about their daughters’ path toJudaism. Many of the fathers are notJewish and others don’t know enoughto care. We rely on individuals whounderstand that if we lose theseyoung women we also lose their childrenand grandchildren.”Rabbi Zvi Friedman ‘73 right, and a recent JEWEL class pose for a group photo in Yerushalayim.