Source: NBC News
JERUSALEM — How would you like a nine-day vacation with your new spouse up to 7,000 miles from home for just $1,800 including flights and hotels?
There’s only one catch: You have to be a mixed-religion couple and one of you must be Jewish.
This is the deal offered by Honeymoon Israel, a nonprofit organization helping newlywed couples of different faiths find a way to connect with the Jewish community.
It is a growing market. Excluding the Orthodox community, around 72 percent of young Jewish Americans are now marrying non-Jews, according a study by the Pew Research Center in 2013. This compares with under 20 percent in the 1970s.
Avi Rubel, who started Honeymoon Israel around two years ago, took those statistics and translated them to a business.
“Our thinking is that if we don’t offer these couples a real, genuine hug, then the next generation of Jews won’t be here, aside from the Orthodox [community] of which the intermarriage rate is zero,” he said.
That “hug” includes a nine-day trip to Israel that is heavily subsidized by Jewish donors.
NBC News joined a group of 15 couples who traveled to Jerusalem from San Francisco area in early December as part of their honeymoon.
On their way to the city’s Wailing Wall — the holiest site for Jews — the group stumbled across a family celebrating their kid’s Bar Mitzvah ceremony. It took only a few seconds before they were dancing to “Hava Nagila,” holding hands and dancing in a circle.
Among the couples were Talia Gracer, a Jewish family doctor, and Todd Ryan, who is Christian, both from Oakland, California.
“When I met Talia, I knew from the start that she wants a Jewish family,” said Ryan, 32. “It was something that evolved over time that I became more and more comfortable about and more excited about, so this trip is very important for us.”
The 31-year-old Gracer said “the best part about the trip” was that every couple was in the same position of having one person more connected with Judaism and another less familiar. “This is very unique,” she said.
The tour also visits the Church of the Holy Sepulture, the place where Jesus was said to have been crucified that now serves as a place of pilgrimage for Christians around the world.
This physical convergence of Judaism and Christianity reflects the views of many of the couples on the trip, who said they would celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas during the holiday season.
Categories: America, Americas, Interesting Facts, interfaith, Israel, Jewish Faith, Middle East, The Muslim Times