A thread:
Intermarriage is not ruining the American Jewish community. Duh. If anything, the inability of Jewish leadership to adapt to a more diverse, progressive, and younger community is "ruining" the Jewish community.

Many families with interfaith partners raise families with wonderful families that have deep connections to not only Judaism, but the other cultures their families come from. Interfaith families don't take anything away from Jewish communities, but rather add to them.

The real problem here is the difficulties the Jewish community has had with adapting to a more diverse Jewish community. 1 in 6 American Jews are converts, and estimates place the number of Jews of Color in the US at 12-15%, a number that has been rising in recent years.

Furthermore, American Jewish leadership and orgs are incredibly Ashkenormative, and often ignore or tokenize minority ethnicities such as Sephardim, Mizrahim, or Beta Israelis. How can the Jewish community maintain itself without opening up to more diverse communities?

Instead of embracing American Jewish diversity, Jewish leadership ignores Jews of color, tokenizes BIPOC Jewish leadership, and demonizes intermarriage. Young Jews, who lean towards more diverse and progressive views, are naturally alienated by their communities.

Furthermore, many American Jews are young and facing extreme debt from college. They simply can't afford the high costs of synagogue membership, Yom Kippur bids, kosher food, Judaica, and modern Jewish life in general.

Often, synagogues expect membership from them while refusing to provide for younger members. When was the last time you saw a synagogue with an updated website? How many synagogues have young leadership? Affordable dues? Childcare?

Young American Jews are also more progressive. They tend to be more sympathetic to the Palestinians and critical of Israel. Many young American Jews feel at odds with an older generation that uncritically supports Israel while making concessions to the Christian right.

With all this in mind, how can we expect the Jewish community to succeed while its leadership shuns diversity and is unwilling to make concessions on the high financial burden of Jewish life? Especially when that leadership fails to consider the views of their communities?