Compared to the 1990 survey, there has been a 4% decrease in respondents who participate with non_Jewish clergy and a very slight decrease of 1% in those who officiate in churches where Christian symbols are visible.  However, two categories have changed significantly.  C.C.A.R. respondents who require a commitment to establish a Jewish home and/or raise children as Jews have decreased from 64% in 1990 to 42% in the current survey and those who require the rabbi to be the only officiant have decreased from 62% to 43%.  The present survey indicates that, while the percentages in these two categories have declined for Reconstructionist rabbis, the decline has been much more gradual than for Reform rabbis.  Reconstructionist rabbis continue to maintain a more traditional stance than their Reform colleagues with respect to these two conditions (see Table 4).

TABLE 4  

The data suggest that the number of rabbis who refer to other rabbis is increasing and that significantly fewer rabbis require, as a condition of officiating, that children be raised as Jews or that the rabbi be the only officiant.  This can be understood as the struggle of a more traditionally minded rabbinate to respond empathically to a more acculturated, less committed Jewish laity.  Because RRA members characteristically operate from a more traditional base, their officiating less frequently than CCAR members or requiring more frequently a commitment to Judaism as a condition of officiating is understandable.  What may be more difficult to understand is that Reconstructionist rabbis are more likely than Reform rabbis to seek out ways of  accommo-dating a couple by referral and, consequently, seem to have less difficulty in affirming the validity of those with whom they differ.  This may possibly be attributable to the philosophical legacy of Mordecai Kaplan, whose concept of Judaism as a civilization affirmed the validity of different ways of embracing Jewish tradition and whose search for an authentic American Judaism broke down traditional patterns of responding and opened up new areas for dialogue and reaching out.

Summary of Rabbinic Center for Research and Counseling 1990 Survey

December 30, 1990  Irwin H. Fishbein, Rabbi, D. Min.

The purpose of this survey is twofold:  1) to determine the present position of the Reform and Reconstructionist rabbinate on officiating at intermarriages and to compare data with previous Rabbinic Center surveys and 2) to update the list of rabbis who officiate at intermarriages.  A questionnaire with four levels of participation and non_participation in intermarriage ceremonies and 18 conditions of officiating was sent by first class mail to 1691 rabbinic members of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) and of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association (RRA).  Of these, 1554 are members of the CCAR and 152 are members of the RRA.  Fifteen rabbis belong to both organizations.

 Of the 798 responses, representing a response rate of 47.2%, 355 or 44.5% officiate at intermarriages under specified conditions, 302 or 37.8% do not officiate but are willing to refer to rabbis who do, and 141 or 17.7% neither officiate nor refer.  A comparison of RRA and CCAR respondents indicates that RRA members officiate less frequently (34.3% compared to 46.0%) but that a larger percent of RRA respondents (52.2% compared to 36.4%) are willing to refer (see Table 1).

TABLE 1