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Will Chelsea Clinton Convert? A Silly Conversation
A recent article in the Daily Beast asks the question, “Will Chelsea Convert?” That would be Chelsea Clinton, of course. Chelsea is Methodist and has recently become engaged to Marc Mezvinsky, a “nice Jewish boy.”
Rabbi David Wolpe is quoted in the article saying “As a rabbi, I would be delighted to see Chelsea convert. That would be my dream scenario.” I have to wonder why the rabbi feels that way. Certainly, if Chelsea wants to convert and has good reasons for her decision, I would welcome her into the Jewish community with open arms. But to say that’s a dream scenario – I’m skeptical.
First of all, why is there any conversation that someone must convert? It seems to me that there are many happy interfaith families that have wonderful family lives and religious experiences.
And if there is such a conversation about someone needing to convert, why is the conversation focused on whether Chelsea should convert and not whether her fiancé should leave Judaism for Christianity? Is this a gender inequality issue – women are weaker or less significant so they should be the ones to change for their man? Is this no different than the expectation that women should change their name when they get married – they should now change their religion too?
Or, is it that in the eyes of a Conservative rabbi like Rabbi Wolpe, the children will only be considered Jewish if they are born to a Jewish woman? While I believe strongly that both matrilineal and patrilineal descent make someone Jewish, there are other rabbis who do not share my view. I have a hard time with that – it seems to me that having at least one Jewish parent and being raised in a Jewish home should make someone Jewish. I would hate to tell a child that they are somehow not Jewish or less Jewish because their mom never went through a formal conversion – though she has taught her child about Judaism and provided Jewish experiences.
The big questions Chelsea and Marc should be asking now are not “should she convert?” The big questions are: What are our shared values? What kind of home will we create? If we choose to have children, how will we raise them? What traditions do we want to maintain from our families of origins and which traditions are we going to create or recreate for ourselves?
If Chelsea decides to convert to Judaism, great. If she doesn’t, great. We will be happy to support Chelsea and Marc in whatever they choose. The choice is theirs – and the conversations they can have may be quite meaningful.
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5 Responses to “Will Chelsea Clinton Convert? A Silly Conversation”
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December 3rd, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Excellent blog, Rabbi. As usual, you saw through the fluff to the core of the problem. I agree with you whole heartedly.
December 3rd, 2009 at 5:03 pm
I also agree with you, Rabbi Laura. Humanistic Rabbi’s are so smart!
December 3rd, 2009 at 7:34 pm
Thanks for posting this. So nice to meet a rabbi who has such a open mind when it comes to raising a Jewish family! We need to welcome and support interfaith families rather than push them farther away…
December 4th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
In my case, my dad was Jewish, my mom Catholic and neither my parents converted. As a result, my dad was kicked out of his home by his dad (later reconciled) and my mom excommunicated from the Catholic Church because she refused to promise to raise me Catholic (she then lost interest in the Church but always considered herself Catholic). They chose to let me decide for myself what to be, if anything. What it taught me was the mutual respect they had for each other, plus a trust in me.
So, I agree with you, but I must say it really would be neat if Chelsea did want to convert. My favorite movie is “Keeping the Faith.”
December 19th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
I can’t say enough for religious unity in the home when I look back on my own home life as a child.
In the 1940’s my mother was in the hospital for weeks for the removal of six cysts. Back then, this was a very grave situation due to the state of medicine. We forget how much we’ve learned medically, since then.
During the many weeks she was in the hospital, an evangelical protestant preacher began praying over her and in her weakened condition she saw the light and got “saved.” When she eventually returned home, she was determined to bring the “good news” to everyone.
The first to receive the message was my father and we three boys. Previously, I think, my father was a sort of humanist and did not like organized religion, especially the evangelistic protestant variety. I think he had a simple belief in one God and otherwise concentrated on life in this world.
The discord that resulted in what had been a very harmonious family, has affected me all my life. I can’t describe to you the insecure feelings that I had during the argumentation that took place daily. I remember being unable to touch my dinner one evening during one of these unpleasant occurences. I remember it with such clarity and in crystal clear detail as though I were there again! I was constantly depressed by all the talk of divorce, a child’s nightmare.
In the end I remember my father going to a Seventh Day Adventist church a few times as though to compromise (Saturday as the sabbath and no unclean foods such as pork, etc), but it didn’t seem like a serious dedication to me.
And after a year or two, he died from a stroke. During his year of convalescence before he suddenly took a turn for the worse, religion took a back seat as my mother realized she might lose him at any time. After my father was gone, Mother’s faith in this wild religion gradually eroded over the years and she eventually gave it up never to return.
Now that I’m 75 years old, I can look back more objectively and with a more philosophical frame of mind and it amazes to see just how deeply that religious strife affected me all these years and I wouldn’t want such a situation to happen to any child if I could prevent it.
Currently I am in limbo faithwise. Some of the old Christian ideas still surface in my subconscious occasionally. Although my mother wasn’t a Jew, I feel as though I am Jewish and I even observe much of the kosher Law even though it is often very inconvenient, especially outside the home.