Northshore Magazine

December 2014

Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.

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Lappin is using the data to push Birthright Israel, the national organization that sponsors Israel trips for young Jewish adults, to lower its eligibility age from 18 to 16. So far, Birthright Israel has resisted Lappin's effort . The Lap- pin Foundation's study shows that Birthright alums marry Jews and raise their children Jewish at similar rates to Y2I alums, but Lappin argues that trips for teenagers also equip them to combat anti-Semitism before they go to college. All of this takes for granted, of course, that in-marriage is a good thing, something to be desired. And if in-marriage is a good thing, does that mean intermarriage is a … bad thing? It's a sticky question, one that pits the ideal of America-as-a-melting-pot against the reality of what's necessary to preserve the traditions of a minority. "I don't think anybody can tell anybody else who they should marry," Lappin says. "But I think Jewish people and Jewish children should understand that statistics show, in intermarried families, most children are not brought up Jewish. Therefore, carrying the idea to its extreme, the 194 Western Wall: Praying at the WesternWall is a long-standing Jewish custom. Philanthropy ne Photograph courtesty of the Lappin Foundation

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