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Old 08-31-2012, 05:35 PM
 
1,249 posts, read 1,724,039 times
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Juliet Bravo, I'm in the same situation - only my husband is a little slower to want to convert. He's suspicious of organized religion. Still, he helped me put the mezuzot up and observes the Jewish holidays with me as much as he can. He fasts on YK (started out because he wouldn't eat in front of me and now it's for another reason I think?). However, I don't think he will formally convert any time soon, though. Sounds like your wife is right on board - good for you!

 
Old 08-31-2012, 05:37 PM
 
1,249 posts, read 1,724,039 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by robertpolyglot View Post
Hey, if these guys like good looking blondes, and not girls with the unattractive large nose/weak chin combination, then more power to them. I think they are secular Jews to begin with, so they don't care. They care about who's in bed next to them, first and foremost.

FWIW: there was one "Jewish look" in girls in SoCal that WAS attractive. It was the Sandra Bullock look, who I don't think is minimally Jewish. However, some Jewish brunettes whose features approximated hers were living in the Southland and were sought after. Whether their suitors were Jewish, gentiles or atheists, I don't know.

BTW: I'm not being shallow, just observant of social phenomenon. People watching is a kick.
Egads!

I think Jewish women are the prettiest. You should see some of the ones at my temple. I'm not an expert on women, being one myself, but I think their husbands are probably pretty happy. They keep themselves in shape and have beautiful features. I don't think you have to choose - either be beautiful, or be someone that's religious (although a Torah Observant Jewess is probably not going to be hopping around in bed here and there, so if that's what they're looking for, they'll have to find someone else).

I find beauty starts from within, but that's just me. You can, of course, think whatever you like.
 
Old 08-31-2012, 05:59 PM
 
Location: Long Island
1,790 posts, read 1,851,384 times
Reputation: 1555
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1+1=5 View Post
Juliet Bravo, I'm in the same situation - only my husband is a little slower to want to convert. He's suspicious of organized religion. Still, he helped me put the mezuzot up and observes the Jewish holidays with me as much as he can. He fasts on YK (started out because he wouldn't eat in front of me and now it's for another reason I think?). However, I don't think he will formally convert any time soon, though. Sounds like your wife is right on board - good for you!
Thank you!

We're slowly getting there. I'm working on setting up the mohel and mivkah for my two youngest (9 and 8, and can't wait to convert), and that just leaves my wife and oldest two boys. They're 16 and 14, so it has to be their choice.
 
Old 08-31-2012, 07:19 PM
 
14,727 posts, read 33,244,118 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 1+1=5 View Post
I find beauty starts from within, but that's just me. You can, of course, think whatever you like.
The thread is about Gentile Women. Therefore, conversion is part and parcel of the discussion. But you're partly right. The non-observant Jew won't care. He'll just go for the trophy. The observant Jew will care. He will either date within the Jewish faith or demand conversion. If he is the party with the most "leverage," then conversion will probably take place. I have always wondered what a Jewish congregation thinks of a surfer-type shixa who becomes Jewish. Something about that must emit a lack of genuine commitment.

About your quoted comment, beauty starts from within, but society also makes judgments about people via their external appearance. That's why half the Jewish girls I knew in LA snuck off to the plastic surgeon the summer between HS and college to have their noses fixed. They certainly became more attractive post-op, so I'm certainly not knocking it. But my favorite story is of a police officer climbing the ranks in his organization who could only get so far, despite stellar performance. He either deduced, or was told, that his weak chin gave him an appearance which made him incongruous with a head honcho position. He went to the plastic surgeon, got his chin built up via an implant, and was promoted.

C'est la vie!
 
Old 09-01-2012, 04:41 PM
 
Location: Oakland, CA
939 posts, read 1,508,048 times
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There are probably some secular Jews who do care and will only want to marry someone Jewish. I think these people are usually Zionists, who have an interest in Israel and preserving Jewish (read: Ashkenazi) culture. Personally I think these people are closed-minded racists. I suspect that many an Orthodox Jew would say that this is their "pintele Yid" within them that is guilting them into preserving a Judaism they don't even believe in.
 
Old 09-01-2012, 07:26 PM
 
1,249 posts, read 1,724,039 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by usuario View Post
There are probably some secular Jews who do care and will only want to marry someone Jewish. I think these people are usually Zionists, who have an interest in Israel and preserving Jewish (read: Ashkenazi) culture. Personally I think these people are closed-minded racists. I suspect that many an Orthodox Jew would say that this is their "pintele Yid" within them that is guilting them into preserving a Judaism they don't even believe in.
I love your posts, Usuario, but, I have to disagree on this one. There's nothing really racist about it; if a Jewish man marries a gentile woman, their kids aren't Jewish, and assimilation has won. The Jews have to keep going, despite centuries of people trying to annihilate us.

I think a lot of Orthodox Jews believe in Judaism. Being observant isn't for the faint of heart; it's a lot of work that I give them credit for. Just my .02. Thanks for listening.
 
Old 09-01-2012, 09:23 PM
 
Location: University City, Philadelphia
22,634 posts, read 14,858,310 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by theflipflop View Post
And none of their children will be Jewish. Hence why the statistics show that progressive forms of Judasim will all be gone from the earth in less than 100 years.
The opposite has happened here in West Philadelphia. Seventy years ago there was 18 - 20 Orthodox synagogues here; now there are none ... zero. But we have seen a tremendous revival of Jewish residents and the growth of the Congregation Kol Tzekek (which belongs to the Reconstructionists) and kosher deli's like Koch's on Pine Street.

Oh, never mind ... I forgot ... according to Orthodox Jews they are not "real" Jews so they don't count. My mistake, I forgot that people like Steven Spielberg, Barbra Streisand, Jerry Seinfeld, Governor Rendell, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Senator Arlen Spector, etc. are not real Jews because they don't practice orthodoxy according to the Orthodox.
 
Old 09-02-2012, 01:25 AM
 
Location: Camberville
15,782 posts, read 21,287,613 times
Reputation: 27986
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1+1=5 View Post
I love your posts, Usuario, but, I have to disagree on this one. There's nothing really racist about it; if a Jewish man marries a gentile woman, their kids aren't Jewish, and assimilation has won. The Jews have to keep going, despite centuries of people trying to annihilate us.

I think a lot of Orthodox Jews believe in Judaism. Being observant isn't for the faint of heart; it's a lot of work that I give them credit for. Just my .02. Thanks for listening.
I wholly reject the matrilineal descent idea. Many of my friends and several cousins are the children of Jewish men and their gentile wives. All of my cousins on the Jewish side of the family have gentile mothers, and all identify as being Jewish and were raised Jewishly. One is studying Jewish education in college. Another friend's father was a Holocaust survivor who had children late in life with a gentile woman. His children were both raised Jewish partially in Israel, but were not recognized as such while growing up in Israel. Unacceptable.

I am a Jewish woman who tends to date Jewish men because I find that we are more likely to share the same outlook toward education, work ethic, ambition, finances, and culture. In general, I try to date Sephardic Latino Jews. However, I'm currently dating a gentile (the grandson of an ex Catholic priest, no less!) and would not be adverse to marrying him in the future, if he was accepting of raising our children Jewish.

"Torah-observant Jews", however, are off the table. Under the rules of the ultra-Orthodox, I am unmarriagable due to my infertility from cancer. Even if the perfect, similarly infertile or divorced/windowed man with a son and daughter wanders into my life, I'm not willing to submit myself to the whims of a culture that has so little respect for me.
 
Old 09-02-2012, 01:36 PM
 
4,729 posts, read 4,341,005 times
Reputation: 1577
Wow, nearly every post on this page (except for 1+1's and Juliet Bravo's) state some kind of blatant misconception, or outright libel, about what Orthodox Jews believe. I'm so saddened. Are you folks just not reading what I say? Or are your pre-conceptions so strong, that what I say isn't getting through to you? Everyone of these ideas is uterrly incorrect:

Quote:
Under the rules of the ultra-Orthodox, I am unmarriagable due to my infertility from cancer. Even if the perfect, similarly infertile or divorced/windowed man with a son and daughter wanders into my life, I'm not willing to submit myself to the whims of a culture that has so little respect for me.
Quote:
But we have seen a tremendous revival of Jewish residents and the growth of the Congregation Kol Tzekek (which belongs to the Reconstructionists) and kosher deli's like Koch's on Pine Street.

Oh, never mind ... I forgot ... according to Orthodox Jews they are not "real" Jews so they don't count. My mistake, I forgot that people like Steven Spielberg, Barbra Streisand, Jerry Seinfeld, Governor Rendell, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Senator Arlen Spector, etc. are not real Jews because they don't practice orthodoxy according to the Orthodox.
Quote:
many an Orthodox Jew would say that this is their "pintele Yid" within them that is guilting them into preserving a Judaism they don't even believe in.
Quote:
The observant Jew will care. He will either date within the Jewish faith or demand conversion. If he is the party with the most "leverage," then conversion will probably take place. I have always wondered what a Jewish congregation thinks of a surfer-type shixa who becomes Jewish. Something about that must emit a lack of genuine commitment.
These statements above aren't just wrong - they're downright offensive. And I won't even respond to robertpolygot's offensive-post-of-the-year. Shocking! Buts Mods, please don't take his post down, as it's a good road marker for all in this forum to see where he is coming from in his posts. All of these posts, for that matter.
 
Old 09-02-2012, 05:02 PM
 
1,830 posts, read 6,120,717 times
Reputation: 1589
Quote:
Originally Posted by robertpolyglot View Post
The thread is about Gentile Women. Therefore, conversion is part and parcel of the discussion. But you're partly right. The non-observant Jew won't care. He'll just go for the trophy. The observant Jew will care. He will either date within the Jewish faith or demand conversion. If he is the party with the most "leverage," then conversion will probably take place. I have always wondered what a Jewish congregation thinks of a surfer-type shixa who becomes Jewish. Something about that must emit a lack of genuine commitment.
(remainder deleted)

C'est la vie!

Thank you all for responding to my thread; the responses have been interesting. Robertpolyglot: yes, conversion can be an issue unless the man in an non-observant Jew. You say, for the observant Jew, he would demand conversion--probably, more often than not. But I wonder if he would be open to allowing his wife to remain an observant Christian provided she does not desire to convert him? Personally, as a Christian woman, myself (with possible Jewish ancestry back a couple generations), I would never want to convert a Jewish person (out of respect). Are synagogues generally accepting toward a Jewish man who has his Christian wife attend services with him?
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