Yes, you’ll know all too well if you’ve been following the Jewish news how the intermarriage debate raged into the public sphere again in the last month as a result of Steven Cohen’s latest report, “The Two Jewries“. This time, I decided to respond by writing an op-ed to the JTA, and I saw it was posted recently while I’ve been out of town (more on why I was out of town soon) along with Sue Fishkoff’s great range of stories published on intermarriage, from adults to children, all of whom address a central theme of how they feel and are left out of Jewish life.

Check it out and I’d love to hear what others think. It’s interesting writing op-eds–the limitations of space (800 words or less) and the question of what arguments one chooses to get people to think about it differently. Ultimately, what I kept thinking was enough. Of course if I had just written about it for JVoices, I’d take a very approach, one that includes talking about economic challenges while also interrogating the pervasive narrative today that speaks more so to white middle class fears than addressing the pervasive poverty that has existed in this nation for a very long time. That isn’t to say that the policies being implemented, like minimum wage increases, only impact white people, but overall the policies that are being put forward don’t go very far in addressing the wealth and income divides between white people and people of color. If people really don’t want to see people hungry or without homes, then they must acknowledge that poverty is very much a part of a capitalist economy, and that to speak about economic equality is, in many ways, an oxymoron within a capitalist society.

Obviously, this argument wouldn’t go far in JTA, and what I really wanted, what I really wanted was for people, particularly older members of Jewish institutional life, to just f**king stop. Stop judging what it is that they may no longer recognize, and to stop expecting that we’ll all just “wisen” up and become like them. Not only is it patronizing and paternalistic, it’s not happening. It’s obnoxious. It’s overplayed. It’s a waste of resources and a waste of time. They need to embrace us for who we are. Or not. Either way, we’ll still keep doing and being who we are, and creating Jewish communities that speaks to our needs and desires.

We’re at it again, defining the lines of who’s in and who’s out as the debate on Jewish continuity in America rages on.

Steven M. Cohen’s latest sociological study on intermarriage, titled “The Tale of Two Jewries,? argues that intermarriage is the single greatest threat to Jewish continuity. His report should raise concerns in its underlying premise and reliance on contested findings in the 2000-2001 National Jewish Population Survey. Using these findings frames the debate as one where Jewish communities are shrinking. Rather, we’re growing.

The Steinhardt Social Research Institute at Brandeis University recently confirmed claims that the NJPS numbers were too low. Rather than 5.2 million, the Steinhardt institute found that there are 6 million to 6.4 million American Jews, and potentially as many as 7.5 million if we include Americans who have Jewish family backgrounds but are not Jewish “by religion.” The institute found that undercounting was highest among Jews in their 20s and 30s and the non-Orthodox due to how the NJPS was conducted.

Ironically, the institute’s findings recognized what Cohen’s research on Jewish culture and engagement confirm — that there is a larger, more diverse Jewish body out there, and we’d be stronger and smarter to embrace that diversity.

Undercounting in the NJPS also reflects Cohen’s findings that younger Jews express their identity in new ways outside of synagogues, JCCs and the federation system — outside of how institutions often gather statistics.

This younger culture “on the outside? also reflects the growing economic divide in America.

Full piece.