"A unique and fresh look at the phenomenon of interfaith marriage that will shed much-needed light on the complex foundations of interfaith relationships. Ellen Jaffe McClain challenges us to take a good, hard look at the true underlying sources of interfaith marriage, and provides the tools with which to do it."
--Rabbi Steven Carr Reuben, author of Children of Character and But How Will You Raise the Children?

". . . a wise, eloquent, and compelling picture of American Judaism. [McClain] has put together insight, vivid learning, and uncommon good sense in the best account I know of what has gone wrong, but what can be made right, in American Judaism. She writes about love with love." --Rabbi Jacob Neusner

"Ellen Jaffe McClain presents an informed and passionate plea for an ethic of inclusiveness. The book is written from inside, an honest testimony of the need to recognize the stranger in our midst."
--Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis, author of For Those Who Can't Believe

"McClain brings a new perspective to the debate, and readers will be grateful for her chutzpah. . . . [She] writes well, and her voice deserves to be heard." --Sandee Brawarsky, The Jewish Week (New York

"Easily the most eloquent, impactive, and therapeutic treatment ever written about Jewry's sacred bogeyman. . . . McClain's warm, wise, funny, and provocative book is must reading for all who work for a Jewish future." --Kirkus Reviews

Does intermarriage necessarily spell the end of an individual's Jewish life -- and the end of the Jewish community? Ellen, who at the time she began her research was a deeply committed, temple-going, holiday-observing Jew who had married a non-Jew, argues vehemently that it does not. Exploding a number of myths about intermarriage and the intermarried, she challenges the misuse of statistics to read all too many people out of Jewish life. She contends that while intermarriage overall may pose a threat to Jewish continuity, not every intermarriage is part of that threat. Embracing the Stranger combines hard data, anecdotes, and interviews with personal reminiscence and cultural commentary to produce an eye-opening account of why Jews marry non-Jews and what concerned Jews -- as a community and as individuals -- should be doing about it.

Embracing the Strangerlooks behind and beyond the statistics and makes the case for encouraging Jews who are in relationships with non-Jews to claim, reclaim, or confirm their place in the Jewish community. "I wrote this book because I have a passionate commitment to liberal Judaism," Ellen states in the book's introduction. "I want to empower Jews whose partners are religiously disaffected or unaffiliated Gentiles to jump into Jewish life and bring their partners with them -- with the full support of the Jewish community."

Embracing the Stranger is out of print but is available from Ellen: $25.00 (including postage) for each signed copy.

Ellen is available as a lecturer on intermarriage, conversion, Jewish continuity, and related issues. To send e-mail to Ellen, click here.