Interfaith couples face many challenges, but one of the most overlooked area is in regard to Israel. Those of us who grow up Jewish are taught about Zionim from an early age, if we choose to marry a non-Jewish spouse, they may not have the same feelings and level of interest.
Honeymoon Israel has come up with a unique idea to tackle this issue: providing trips to Israel for Interfaith couples. Similar to Birthright for the younger crowd, this program is designed to form deep and lasting bonds with Israel’s people, land, and culture.
Participants must be ages 25-40, married, and one of the partners has to be Jewish. The 9-day trip’s value is supposedly $10,000 per couple, but only costs $2200 since it’s subsidized by donors. Each trip includes 20 diverse couples that are from the same city, which will hopefully provide lasting friendship with similar folks when they return home.
Personally, I think this is a great idea! With 70% of the Jewish community now intermarrying, we need to explore every avenue possible to embrace the non-Jewish spouse and welcome them into the fold.
I think it would be a very interesting trip for those not of the Jewish faith. It would enable non Jewish to experience things their spouses hold sacred, and there is much overlap into other faiths. This looks like a great idea,