 This evening I've been asked to speak about one of the most painful issues that confronts the Jewish community. That is an issue that really stymies the mind of how to solve it. That's the issue of intermarriage. Intermarriage has grown. The statistics tell us from somewhere around 6 percent of the Jewish population after World War II to presently somewhere up to 52 percent. It is a problem that has gotten so bad that many families have given up hope of figuring out how to prevent it or undo an intermarriage. They've just decided we must go with the flow. I don't believe that that has to be our only response, especially in the fact that evangelical Christian missionaries are using the intermarriage issue as another ingenious way to assimilate Jews into Christianity. Several years ago in Newsweek Magazine, when they explored the issue of intermarriage, the writer of the article wrote the following statement that a young little boy was attending a synagogue preschool. One day the teacher asked him, who do you love? And this boy, a product of an intermarriage, responded, I love Jesus. So for those that think that an intermarriage will simply allow people to go in their own paths and that the influences of Christianity will not affect them, that story powerfully points out that that's not the case. Realizing that for many intermarried couples, the issue of intermarriage is that the issue of faith and belief is something that is probably not on their mind when they get married. It's distant from their thoughts and those of us in the room that have experienced that issue in our families or friends know that that's a fact. At some point in that relationship the issue of faith and religion may come to the front of the issues in their marriage. I know a personal case in Los Angeles where a Jewish man who married a non-Jewish woman, he himself was so assimilated that the thought of even suggesting a conversion on her part didn't even enter his mind to suggest it. There was absolutely no interest in faith or religion in his relationship. Ten years into the marriage, very happy couple in terms of non-religious issues, the wife's mother became ill. And while visiting her in the hospital, her memories of her childhood faith became aroused. And over a period of a year she discovered her connection to God and to faith. And I think many of us would say that that's a very positive and good thing for this non-Jewish individual. She prayed with her mother, it gave her strength. When she presented this to her husband he shrugged his shoulders and said, well it's not for me, I'm not interested. Wanting something cohesive in their marriage. She sought help. She turned to a missionary group called Chosen People Ministries who had recently published a newsletter with the cover saying intermarriage, a new witnessing frontier. And in the accompanying article to that magazine, just one sentence from it makes a very powerful statement. We in Chosen People Ministries are glad to provide a spiritual home for intermarried couples and their children where they can be affirmed and encouraged in their Jewish identities and at the same time of faith in Yeshua, quote, Jesus the Messiah. Their answer to the spiritual dilemma in an interfaith marriage is to give the couple both. They can be Jewish and Christian simultaneously the same presentation that's been given by Jews for Jesus and missionaries to you and to your neighbors and to your friends and children. But now it's specifically being targeted at intermarried couples. What is the solution to intermarriage and to this particular problem? Of all the research that has been done, the only suggestion that has proven to be successful is to make the Jewish partner understand what it means to be Jewish. Answering the question of why be Jewish because if the person doesn't feel why they should be Jewish and understand being Jewish and feel a spiritual uplifting within their soul for being Jewish, then to tell them not to marry someone who's not Jewish means absolutely nothing to them. Recognizing this specific problem with intermarried couples being targeted by missionaries, the Jewish Community Foundation in Los Angeles funded Jews for Judaism with a grant of $35,000 to create a program that would reach out to interfaith couples who have already been married for years. It's already an accepted fact in their lives and try to reach to them and inoculate them against this missionary argument and also show them that there is a community that cares for them that will offer warmth to them. So working with interfaith experts throughout California, we came up with a webpage and a program of lectures which is our response to intermarriage and interfaith couples. We call the program Two Roads, One Path and for anyone who wants to see the webpage they can go to tworoadsonepath.com. It is something different than you've ever experienced before because it doesn't attack them. It doesn't condemn them because if you want to bring them closer you must bring people closer with warmth. This campaign will be launched in full within the next month and hopefully will spread to our other centers throughout the world. But to tell you how in a nutshell that warmth and caring can help a person, I'll end with a short story. Last November, a Jewish family was referred to our office in Los Angeles by their conservative rabbi. They came to the office and met with me and told me of their dilemma. Their dilemma was that their son, Jonathan, a brilliant student at the University of California in San Diego, a junior, was dating a non-Jewish girl who was a Christian and according to them had now started to explore Christianity himself. They were beyond words the pain that they expressed to me. And they came seeking help, the rabbi had referred them to Jews for Judaism as the resource that he knew of that could help them. And we figured out a way to make Jonathan feel comfortable coming to meet with me was interesting that they told me that one of his favorite pastimes was scuba diving which happens to be one of mine so when he finally called up and said my parents want me to talk to you I said oh about scuba diving and he just said scuba diving how are you certified he listed them off we had a nice talk about that and the barriers between us broke down and we really hit it off very well he agreed that during winter break he would come to my home and meet with me he showed up the last week of December to my home and spent six hours straight talking to me we spoke about passages in the Bible that he had been studied studying whether in Isaiah Daniel we speak spoke about the importance of analyzing every nuance of our Bible and how important it is and then he asked me if I had a personal relationship with God that I really feel that God was touching my life so I told them the story of how when my wife 22 years ago was expecting our first child she went into labor 10 and a half weeks premature we rushed her to the hospital and the doctors tried everything to stop the labor but they couldn't they came to me 15 hours after we were in the hospital and they said Rabbi Kravitz there's no way this child can survive the baby is breached the umbilical cord is around its neck the lungs are not developed we're just going to do a caesarean section to save your wife's life now so my wife and I sat and we prayed to God for help and as they took my wife into the operating room I told her the story of the great Robb Rabbi Schneer Zalman of Liadi who on young people ran from the synagogue to seek out a woman who was giving birth but didn't have any food or any heat in her home and he found her and he made a fire and he cooked food and he helped deliver the baby and he saved that baby's life and I said in the merit of that great rabbi Rabbi Schneer Zalman perhaps God will also help us two hours later as they rolled this small child about this big out to the emergency room with tubes in his arm and in nose we were in shock the doctor came back into the office into the waiting room and said Rabbi Kravitz I have to talk to you I saw his name was Dr. Tannenbaum and I felt good because he's Jewish he said we don't understand it's a miracle everybody in the emergency room is calling this the miracle baby we can't explain how it's happening my first question to the doctor was doctor what is your Hebrew name and I looked at him and he answered back my Hebrew name is Schneer Zalman the exact same name as the rabbi in the story and I told that story to Jonathan and he came back the following week for six hours and he was so moved he went back to San Diego a different person three months paths and I didn't hear from him two weeks before Passover I sent him an email Jonathan I miss having contact with you maybe you'll come for the Seder he sends back an email the next day of course I'll come and I have to tell you what happened Rabbi Kravitz two weeks ago I was in church and I was on my knees in the church praying and I was so confused by the issues that I heard from the Christians and from you I didn't know what to do I said God send me a sign I got up from my knees sat down in the pew and I hear two women speaking behind me and one turns to the other and says I have to tell you about the wonderful Shabbat experience I had at my Jewish neighbor's house he said rabbi I was blown away I said you're coming for pay so he said definitely after that two weeks go by I call him on the cell phone you're definitely you're still coming he says rabbi I'm definitely coming I said that was an amazing story you told me he said that's not the end I said what's the end of the story he says rabbi I wasn't sure if that was really a sign and I remembered the story you told me about your son snare's almond so I said God send me a more specific sign let me meet someone with the same Hebrew name as myself said rabbi last night I was in an AOL chat room someone sent me an interim instant message and I started speaking with him he turns out to be Jewish I type what is your Hebrew name he types back Joseph Pesa he said rabbi that's my name he said that's enough God answered my prayers I'm back he not only broke off his relationship with the non-Jewish girl he not only gave up his exploration of Christianity which in fact he had already converted he's now learning biblical Hebrew and planning this December to go on the birthright experience to Eretz Israel and to be totally immersed in Judaism this is the message we can give our people the message of spirituality of warmth and caring and with that individually one by one we will help rescue many many thousands of people and this is the work that we're doing and I appreciate your support and help thank you very much