Intermarriage and the Maintenance of Religio-Ethnic Identity A Case Study: The Denver Jewish Community

This article seeks to improve our understanding of the relationship between intermarriage and religio/ethnic identity by examining the differences betwee.1 competing sets of sociological theories of intermarriage. One set of theories equates intermarriage with assimilation, a case of homogenization versus pluralism. The second set of theories sees intermarriage as a function of tolerances for pluralism and hetero- geneity. For sociologists and the Jewish community intermarriage is the American Jewish dilemma. At issue is the potential disappearance of the largest Jewish community in the world. The question is whether the children of intermarriage are likely to be raised as Americans and Jews or just as Americans. Mixed married couples whose children were enrolled in an unique Jewish religious school were surveyed in the light of thecompeting sets of theories. In view of the fact that the real test of assimilation is the children we examine the relationship between raising children Jewish and several social and demographic variables. While the results of this study do not yield an absolutely firm answer regarding either of the two sets of theories, neither do they support outright rejection of the more optimistic set. Whether pluralism can coexist with appreciable persistent ethnicity will depend, in part, on the communities themselves. The community studied is at the cutting edge of social change and response to intermarriage.