In a changing reality, every legal system needs to make adaptations. Parashat Shofetim emphasizes that one must turn to “the judge who will be in those days … and they will tell you the matter of the judgment” (Deut 17:9). In our time, in an open society, we live among virtuous people of other religions, but the Torah forbids us to marry them. The maintenance of Jewish identity requires a family in which there are two parents committed to the same tradition.
Our Sages developed a procedure for conversion that makes it possible for a non-Jew to join the Jewish people. In addition, we can work to draw in mixed families; the children of a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother are considered to be of “Israelite seed” (zera‘ Yisra’el). We should aspire to convert the children so that they become an integral part of our communities.
As we know, “something that may involve a law of the Torah is interpreted stringently.” That is, one should take a stringent view of the law if there is a chance that our halakhic decision might otherwise lead us to violate a law of the Torah. Therefore, any solution that may be proposed must keep a safe distance from such a possibility.
