In Theory:

In a recent sermon, Reform Rabbi Donald Weber, of Temple Rodeph Torah in New Jersey, reportedly offered to personally pay for six-month memberships to the Jewish singles matchmaking website JDate to any singles in the congregation who asked. The idea was to help bolster the dwindling American Jewish population in the face of national surveys that say about half of American Jews are marrying outside of the Jewish faith.

What do you think of online dating services that match people within the same faith?

Great idea! Using technology to advance our religious beliefs is always a good way to reach young people — the people who are our future leaders, supporters and congregants. After all, the youthful demographic is very in tune with the latest and most advanced technology; it makes sense to approach them through the Internet, since that’s the medium they’re most familiar with. (In regards to JDate, some care should be taken to ascertain that those who claim to be Jewish online are in fact so; oftentimes, this is not the case.)

Surveys show that children of Jews who marry into the faith have a far greater chance of identifying with Judaism than those who don’t.

In fact, fewer than 10% of grandchildren of intermarried couples identify themselves as Jews. This frightening statistic should spur all Jewish leaders to encourage marriage within the faith using all possible methods of communication.

At the same time, we must be very careful not to alienate those families, which are already intermarried.

We have a responsibility to welcome them as warmly as we would anyone else. We can help strengthen their Jewish identity; they should be encouraged to introduce into their homes as much Judaism as possible so we retain the beauty of our tradition.

As a rule, conversion to Judaism is not encouraged since we espouse the idea that Judaism is the right path for Jews as is Christianity for Christians and Islam for Muslims.

As long as one believes in God and practices their religion in a peaceful, non-threatening manner, then they are living a purposeful, spiritual life.

However, in a circumstance like this — where we face a serious challenge to our heritage and risk confusion for our children — I would support the idea of a non-Jewish spouse embarking on a sincere conversion.

RABBI SIMCHA BACKMAN

Chabad Jewish Center

It’s a real challenge today for young people to meet prospective marriage partners.