The Problem at Shir Shalom

Ron Grossman writes on JWR

Ann and Ronald Kleiman live at the other end of the spectrum [from the Orthodox in America]. He is Jewish, she is not, and their home is in a largely non-Jewish subdivision, north of Chicago. They attend Temple Shir Shalom, a Reform congregation in Arlington Heights, Ill., where 40 percent of the members have mixed marriages.

Ronald Kleiman was raised in a Conservative synagogue but drifted away as an adult. Services left him cold, he recalled. After the couple was married (it is a second marriage for both), Ronald Kleiman felt a religious tug and found a spiritual home at Shir Shalom. He said he thinks this is because the congregation puts feeling above form in its services. Guitars hang on the walls of the cantor's office.

"He reminds us of Pete Seeger," Ronald Kleiman said.

Ann Kleiman, who was raised Christian, serves on Shir Shalom's sisterhood.

"I was asked to join by a woman who isn't Jewish either," she said.

In outline form, the Kleimans' story typifies that of many contemporary Jewish families. According to the National Jewish Population Survey, these days when American Jews get married, 47 percent of the time it is to non-Jews. Kotler-Berkowitz, who directed the study, thinks that statistic is one reason why Reform Judaism has emerged as the largest of three main groups.