With the recent, sobering news that 18Doors is drastically cutting back staff and programming due to budget losses, the Jewish communal world is suddenly scrambling. Experts and funders are asking: Where will interfaith families go? Who will support them?
To that, the Interfaith Families Project (IFFP) has a simple answer: We’ve been here the whole time.
If funders and communal leaders actually care about supporting interfaith families, they don’t need to look for an “innovation.” They just need to look at us, the other Interfaith families organization with a national footprint. While the mainstream field is contracting, we are growing—adding an average of 10 new families every year.
Yet, as the conversation about the future of interfaith life hits the news once again, we remain the best-kept secret in the field.
The Secret Hiding in Plain Sight
You might ask: If you’ve been in operation since 1995 and you’re growing, why haven’t I heard of you? Why hasn’t your work been funded?
The truth is uncomfortable. We have long been treated as what once would have been called the “bastard stepchild” of the Jewish interfaith field. We see this play out on the ground in real-time. Local interfaith couples tell us that information about our workshops is often withheld by synagogues and JCCs. It is only shared as a “last resort”—offered to couples after they’ve completed other programs and expressed unhappiness or when they realize their non-Jewish partner isn’t fully welcomed.
We aren’t the first choice; we are the alternative for those who didn’t “fit the mold” and who want to truly do both.
Why the Silence?
Why is IFFP routinely left off the list of innovative alternatives for next-generation Judaism in mainstream Jewish news outlets? Why, as legacy Jewish institutions struggle to meet the needs of young families and couples, are we still viewed as “other”?
We have to ask the hard questions:
Is it because legacy institutions still believe that “doing both” is harmful?
Is it because there is a lingering, unspoken belief that the children of interfaith families are “less Jewish”—or worse, not Jewish at all? Won’t they “be confused?”
If these are the assumptions, they are demonstrably false. Susan Katz Miller’s extensive research and writing have proven that interfaith education and “doing both” create a deep, literate, and proud sense of identity. Our 30-year track record proves that we aren’t a phase—we are a community.
The Time is Now
Ed Case, the founder of InterfaithFamily (which became 18Doors), has argued that there is no better time than now for funders to support organizations serving interfaith families. He is right.
We know what we are doing. We have the longevity, the growth, and the national community to prove it. We are not a consolation prize for families who don’t choose “exclusively Jewish”; we are a vibrant, intentional destination for families who want to honor the totality of who they are.
To the funders and the communal leaders: If you are serious about the future of interfaith life, stop looking for the next big thing and start looking at the community that has been doing the work for three decades.
IFFP is right here. We’re growing. We’re thriving. It’s time you noticed.
