The Lilith Blog

September 25, 2017 by Lisa Solod

What My Fraught Interfaith Marriage (And Eventual Divorce) Taught Me About My Judaism

Many years ago, when I was living with an old friend in an apartment in a big city, she announced that she was going to date only Jewish men from then on. She was adamant about wanting to marry a Jewish man, and spending time dating men outside her faith would make this less likely.

I remember being both impressed and incredulous. How can you be so calculated about the person with whom you fall in love?

When I listened to my friend’s pronouncement that day, I was quite young, and so very naïve. I could not have imagined then that marrying outside my faith would ultimately cause me so many years of personal pain and physical hardship. I could not even have considered how alone I would feel once I realized how large a part my ethnicity and my faith would play in my future self.