Where the family of origin of the Jewish partner was affiliated with either a Conservative synagogue or Reform temple, the majority expressed a desire to have their marriage solemnized by a rabbi or cantor. This is consistent with the 1991 JOI Survey which showed that the majority of Conservative or Reform families preferred to have a rabbi officiate at the intermarriage of their own children, if there was a commitment to raise ensuing children as Jews.

Among couples who were married by a rabbi or a cantor (i.e. Jewish clergy) exclusively, sixty three percent (63%) are raising their children as Jews. Among couples whose marriages were not solemnized by any Jewish clergy or by Jewish clergy exclusively fewer an 25% were raising their children as Jews.

Sixty percent (60%) of those whose family held membership in a temple or synagogue at the time of their marriage indicated that they would have liked the rabbi or cantor of their family's congregation to solemnize their marriage. Of this group, sixty percent (60%) were either refused or refrained from asking for Jewish officiation because they expected to be refused. Of that sixty percent who were refused rabbinic officiation, more than half (51%) were married by either Christian clergy or by a judge or justice of peace.

Over-all, forty percent (40%) of those whose families were members of a temple or synagogue at the time of marriage had their weddings officiated by a rabbi or cantor. This contrasts with just 20% of those whose families were not members of a temple or synagogue. By contrast, of those whose families did not belong to a temple or synagogue at the time of marriage 27% were married by Christian clergy.

Of those who asked their rabbi or cantor to officiate and the clergy agreed to do so or referred the couple to some other Jewish clergy, 83% of the couples were married by a rabbi or cantor. Of those who asked their family's rabbi or cantor but were refused. or did not ask because they expected to be refused, 40% were nevertheless married by another rabbi or cantor.

How did the Rabbi or Cantor Influence the Couple?

The present survey asked respondents to indicate: "How has the participation of the Rabbi or Cantor at your wedding influenced your feelings about Jewish life?" A statistical summary of their responses follows.

Jewish Affiliation and Childrearing

The study also looked at two important and concrete expressions of Jewish involvement: whether the couples were affiliated or were planning to affiliate with a synagogue or temple affiliation, and whether they were raising or planning to raise their children Jewish.

Table 1 indicates that those whose marriages were solemnized by Jewish clergy exclusively were far more likely to belong or have plans to belong to a synagogue or temple than those whose marriage were solemnized in some other ceremony. Table 2 further underscores this apparent association, indicating that intermarried couples whose marriages were solemnized exclusively by Jewish clergy are far more likely than others to be raising their children as Jews.

These findings suggest a high degree of statistical association between the likelihood of raising Jewish children and whether or not an intermarried couple's marriage was solemnized by a rabbi or cantor.

Although none of the findings suggest a direct causal relationship between the participation of Jewish clergy in the solemnizing of intermarriages and the subsequent Jewish behaviors of the families in question, they suggest, at the very least that intermarried families who are most likely to behave in conformity of Jewish norms are the most likely to have been also married by a rabbi or cantor.

Such an association is hardly surprising. After all, who but couples who are interested in leading some kind of a Jewish life would seek to be married by a rabbi or cantor? Those who have no interest in Jewish affiliation or in raising Jewish children would also be the least likely to want to have their marriages solemnized by Jewish clergy.