Jchoice.Org

InterfaithFamily.com, Inc. is the online resource for interfaith families exploring Jewish life and the grass-roots advocate for a welcoming  Jewish community. This resource is for everyone touched by interfaith relationships where one partner is Jewish, on every topic of interest to them, and for everyone who works with and cares about them.

In response to perceived interest in and need for “how-to-do-Jewish” information, especially on the part of young interfaith families with children, and a clear trend favoring multimedia including video in conjunction with text in web based experiences, our expansion goals include producing a comprehensive set of “how-to” resources including multimedia and video items and text resource guides, like our existing Wedding Ceremony Guide and Bar and Bat Mitzvah Guide for Interfaith Families, over a three-year period.

The online magazine InterfaithFamily.com was launched in November 1998 by Jewish Family & Life!, leading provider of Jewish media. Edmund Case became the publisher of the magazine in May 1999. In 2001 Ed founded the independent non-profit InterfaithFamily.com, Inc. to better serve the needs of interfaith families and the new non-profit acquired the magazine. Following the acquisition, the website was expanded to offer additional resources.

•    We will continue publishing personal narratives that address different audiences including children in interfaith families, non-Jewish parents, single parents, extended non-Jewish and Jewish family relatives, and multicultural/multiracial families.

•    We will address the need for “how-to” information by continuing to produce text Resource Guides. In 2009 we plan to produce three guides and are considering Shabbat, the Jewish worship service, Jewish food, and grand-parenting.

•    We will continue to add multimedia and video to the site, but on a modest basis, including:

·    Evaluating and linking more extensively to existing video on other sites including MyJewishLearning.com, including, where permitted, embedding existing video into pages with our own text introduction designed to make the existing material sensitive to our audience.

·    Implementing a video contest, such as cell phone videos of young children doing something related to interfaith family/Jewish life.

•    To present our existing personal narrative content as effectively as possible, we will start to package groupings of articles organized by a “most common situations” concept (i.e., “you’re not Jewish, your son is having a Bar Mitzvah, what should you expect;” etc.).

·    The new groupings would be presented on the relevant Resource Page and could be in downloadable format, in effect a printable pamphlet on a particular situation.

·    Jewish Lights Publishing is interested in having us produce a second anthology; the groupings could become the basis for such a book in the future.

·    We will explore including video and audio in the groupings, for example,  interviews of writers of articles, or “ask the Rabbi” interviews addressing the different most common situations.

·    An additional strategic priority that relates to both content and marketing is to distribute our content more effectively and use it to increase awareness of our resources. This will require blogging more extensively on our own site and commenting on blogs on other sites, and expanding content partnerships, including with MJL and other high traffic sites of interest to our audience.

InterfaithFamily.com is a unique resource in its own right. While there are other sites that show people how to light Chanukah candles or explain a Passover seder, none are targeted directly to interfaith families. There is a sensitivity and understanding that InterfaithFamily.com’s content provides that others who talk about the same topics miss.   

These are six verbatim comments we received in December 2008:

·     Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2008 13:11:48 -0500  From: Becky (posted in our Parenting discussion board under the title of Article Discussion: So You Want to Be a Jewish Mother but You’re Not Jewish).

Comment: This is a tremendously helpful article. I'm a non-Jewish woman preparing to start a life with a Jewish man, and not quite willing to convert, but thrilled to raise Jewish children. There are very few resources available for my situation, so thanks.

·     Date: Fri, 18 Dec 2008 10:25 -0500  From: Unregistered  (posted in our December Holidays discussion board under the title of Article Discussion: Baby's First Christmas).

Comment: Thank you so much for this article.  I am marrying the man of my dreams in March and he is Catholic.  He has already given me the incredible gift of raising our future children Jewish.  However, we did buy a tree this year to make him feel at home.  God bless him, he keeps referring to it as our holiday tree and decorated it all in silver and blue.  I love the fact that your children can celebrate with their grandparents and cousins. That is what we want to do and I am glad to see it working.

·      Date: Thu, 17 Dec 2008 3:43 -0500  From: Bobby (posted in our Conversion discussion board under the title of Article Discussion: Standards and Ceremonies Involved in Reform Conversion in the Boston Area).

Comment: i am going through conversion and now am going before the beit din and yes i am a little nervous which i know is normal i know already most of the things and am ready to set foot on my way this site here helps me to be ready to meet the beit din i am glad i read this page

·     Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:41  From: Email from Julie N.

Comment: Thanks to you and all of your staff for doing such important work. I recently had twins and I look forward to raising them, as well as our sweet Jake, with the support of Interfaith Family resources.

·      Date: Wed, 3 Dec 2008  From: Email from Sara M.

Comment: I was very pleased to come across your website. I live in the NH seacoast area and I was looking at synagogues for possible rabbis that might officiate at my interfaith wedding. Your website has proved to be very helpful and I just wanted to let you know how appreciative I am.

·     Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2008  From: Email from Rabbi Charles B.

Comment: I just wanted to let you know that I received a call from someone wanting me to officiate at a baby naming service.  She found my name on the IFF website.  Thanks for encouraging me to register.

One way to get involved is to organize a fundraising activity in your school or community for our cause.