Welp

[guppyur]

So uh my brother just got engaged.

Mazel tov, right? Except that he's engaged to a Chinese (read: not Jewish) girl, so my parents are furious.

I really hope they don't alienate my brother over this. Much as I punched him when I was little, I like the little bastard.

Comments

[baelarion]

Well, good for him.

And your folks are generally reasonable people. They'll come 'round eventually. (It would probably help if Geoff's fiancee agreed to raise the kids Jewish, but I assume they're not going that route.)

[guppyur]

They are, actually. My parents are especially bothered because my cousin did a similar thing -- married a Filipino dude with a religious Catholic family that eventually pressured him into getting her to agree to drop Judaism for the kids. They ended up divorced. The situation is not analogous in a number of ways, but nonetheless.

In any case, even if they weren't going to do that, I still wouldn't want my family to drive him away because of it.

[baelarion]

Of course your family shouldn't drive him away for that! I'm just saying that it seems to help Jewish parents accept a non-Jewish son/daughter-in-law.

But now I'm confused. So it's been decided that your brother's kids are going to be raised Jewish... and your folks are still kicking up a fuss? Good lord.

[charmlarken]

My very Catholic grandparents still can't understand why I married an atheist, but most of the time they don't bring it up. I hope your parents remember that many a good marriage has been made from different backgrounds.

[v_cat]

Well, congrats to him, regardless of what your folks think. Whatever happens between them though, it shouldn't have any impact on your relationship with your brother. Also, I think it important to consider the biological benefits of such a marriage. In terms of genetics, this is awesome and if they are raised Jewish then even better. More jews without all those inherited diseases. Its a win-win. But seriously, they'll likely come around once there are babies, old people can't resist babies.

[baelarion]

Definitely agreed on the biological benefits. Avoiding stuff like Tay-Sachs Disease is always a good thing. It's also my firm belief that an unfortunate number of Jews in this world are inbred enough that it causes them to be, well, horribly unattractive. Who would want to pass such a burden on to an innocent child?

(Note, I am not saying that Jews should not marry other Jews, but DAMN, we've GOT to get some more varied genes into the bloodlines.)