Intermarriage ‘Cure’

As a Jewish family whose children married outside their religion, we compliment Beth Ann Krier on a well-researched exploration of a difficult subject (“Intermarriage a Threat to Jewish Way of Life?” April 19).

The Jewish establishment laments and deplores the high incidence of intermarriage--but no one asks the critical question: Why? Yet the villain is so easy to identify.

When anti-Semitism flourishes, intermarriage ceases to be a problem. When anti-Semitism declines, intermarriage thrives. The truth may be unpleasant, but anti-Semitism is to Judaism what tooth decay is to dentistry--they desperately need each other.

A resurgence of anti-Semitism would “cure” intermarriage--a classical case of a remedy much worse than the disease. My advice to the establishment is to treat the whole matter with a large dose of benign neglect.

PETER SIMMEL

Culver City