Anthony Weiner: The politics of intermarriage
The New York Jewish Week checks in on U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner's love life and wonders whether his engagement to a Muslim woman will hurt him politically:
In the course of his long political career, Anthony Weiner became accustomed to eager inquiries when he walked into a Jewish senior center without a wedding ring.
“They all want me to meet their granddaughters,” the rail-thin, youthful politician told me as we walked into one such senior center on Brooklyn’s Ocean Avenue years ago. “And, they want to know what I’ve eaten today.”
At the time, Weiner was running for Congress with posters that read Anthony David Weiner, lest the man with the Italian given name be perceived as a non-Jew and lose advantage to any of his three rivals, Noach Dear, Melinda Katz and Daniel Feldman.
The unusual moniker and his reluctance to meet those granddaughters or to put on a few pounds have never stood in the way of Anthony Weiner becoming a darling in his own religious community, mustering both political support and serious financial backing in a district that includes some of the most heavily Jewish neighborhoods in the country. They include Forest Hills in Queens and Flatbush in Brooklyn.
But now Weiner, 44, a six-term Democrat with staunch pro-Israel leanings, is entering uncharted waters with his announcement that he’ll soon be married. To a Muslim.
“OY,” commented one reader on the blog Yeshiva World News in reaction to the news....
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Love is blind, so they say. Quite honestly I’ve always been curios how he came to have the name “Anthony.” For a Jewish Congressman who has always been supportive of Israel, I would say that he has a bit of a problem on his hands. Who will conduct the ceremonies at his marriage? If there are children, how will they be raised. Will he convert to his wife’s religion? These are all questions he should have realized that people will ask.
Its kinda funny for someone named Stephen to question the Jewishness of the name Anthony? The pot calling the kettle black?
The 2 were intorduced by hillary clinton. Therefore, we know nothing good will come out of the relationship.
Hopefully the Jews in Brooklyn will vote him out and circumsise the weiner from the community and send the weiner and the shmuck packing
The Jews should be proud of this man Anthony Weiner and Muslims should be proud of Huma Abedin.
Personally I admire this couple – politically he is a staunch pro-Israeli, and ideologically Huma ought to be pro-justice and would be fair to the Jews and Palestinians. Both have demonstrated their ability to discern the personal, political and religious difference and have based their relationship on love which transcends all other created differences.
They are setting an example of co-existence, despite the differences and we need more of them, through interfaith marriages, they can perhaps bring about peaceful coexistence to the people of Israel and Palestine. Isn’t that a dream of every Jews and Muslim? If it is not, then I am wrong.
The role of conservatives ought to be to hold on to the values of peace, justice and co-existence. However, in truth those who claim to be conservatives are in effect extremists opposed to the very values that are conservative. God has communicated through Moses, Jesus, Mohammad, Krishna, Buddha and all the spiritual masters the values of co-existence, inculcated via values like the ones spelled out in the Ten Commandments in one form or the other. God wants all of us to get along and live in harmony; no faith preaches hate, chaos, ill-will, malice or chopping God into pieces for each faith to consume.
The conservative Jews and Muslims, nay, the extremist Jews and Muslims will start issuing fatwas against these two beautiful human beings and stick their version of the religion on them, which has been dished out by the middle men, and not God.
“Observant Jews view intermarriage as religious treason” and oddly the “Observant Muslims” claim that it is religiously unlawful for a Muslim woman to marry a non Muslim man”. Why do they call themselves “observant” when they are not, they should call themselves stick in the mud.
To be religious is to be a peace maker, one who mitigates conflicts and nurtures goodwill. That is the purpose of all religions, to bring sense to mankind and live and let live.
This is precisely the program we are working on Religious Weddings in Dallas “The purpose of this event is to familiarize the public through TV, civic and religious leaders the rituals and essence of wedding in each faith tradition. It is to highlight the relationship between two individuals regardless of the faith they don. Don; they will in the different costumes and ceremonies encompassing the following faiths as the time allows within three hours of duration.” http://religiousweddings.blogspot.com/
I am pleased to invite the couple to get married – Jewish, Islam and interfaith way in Dallas on May 2nd.
Mike Ghouse is a thinker, writer and speaker on pluralism, interfaith, co-existence, peace, Islam and India. He is a frequent guest at the TV, radio and print media offering pluralistic solutions to issues of the day. His websites and Blogs are listed on his website http://www.MikeGhouse.net
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Yaakov Watkins
07/24/09 01:31 PM
This is a conflation of a bunch of issues.
One issue is his abandonment of Judaism by marrying a non-Jew.
The second issue is the patriotism of Moslems. Since I know nothing of his fiance, I have no opinion on the subject, although I freely admit I am in a minority on that. Some will assume without evidence that she is patriotic and others will assume without evidence that she is an enemy agent.
The third issue is whether he thinks the marriage will last if he and his wife are committed to their ethnic groups and their religion. That is merely an indication of his intelligence, but otherwise none of anyone’s business.
The fourth issue is his commitment to Israel and how his relationship with his wife will affect it. Any it will have some effect. I just can’t conceive of how it could be a positive one.