Shabbat Discussion Guide TOPIC 1: INTERFAITH RELATIONSHIPS Interfaith relationships are obviously at the core of the tension in Nobody Wants This. Can Joanne and Noah truly be together? Is a life with Noah the life that Joanne really wants? Will Noah lose his job if Joanne doesn't convert? Can Noah build a Jewish home with Joanne as his wife? Approaches to interfaith relationships have shifted over millennia of Jewish history even as recently as six months ago. Here's some Jewish text on interfaith relationships to inform your thinking: "When Gd brings you to the land that you are about to enter and possess, and dislodges many nations before you… You shall not intermarry with them: do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons." Deuteronomy 7:1,3 "While we recognize that clergy are role models, and that marrying within the Jewish community is highly predictive of future Jewish engagement, we also recognize that many Jewish individuals with non-Jewish partners maintain a Jewish family and home in which Judaism exclusively is practiced and are deeply engaged with Jewish communal life and peoplehood. We believe we should welcome these individuals into HUC-JIR and into leadership roles in Jewish communities." Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Updated Expectations for Clergy Students June 20, 2024
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1
How did the dilemma of the interfaith relationship feel to you when you watched it unfold? Did it feel true to an experience you might have had, or a friend of yours might have had? Did it feel antiquated?
2
There has been criticism that Nobody Wants This portrays Judaism shallowly. Do you think the show adequately portrayed the tension that might exist in an interfaith relationship?
31
How would you explain why your religion is important to someone of another faith?