Rabbi Monty always knew he wanted to perform interfaith marriages. His “life’s mission” as he terms it comes from his deep conviction that Judaism is a porous religious faith, not one which was meant to be lived in isolation from the rest of society. He conducts weddings either as a “Solo Rabbi” or together with another Wedding Officiant. He provides all couples with a useful printed compilation of resources to greatly simplify their wedding ceremony planning, plus his fees are negotiable.
For American Jews, intermarriage is a fact of life and has been for many decades. Rabbi Monty asks each couple to find the optimum balance they seek in their spiritual lives as a new couple. Rabbi Monty often meets older couples who all tell the same story — how they had difficulty finding a rabbi to perform their ceremony in decades past and that they are happy to see him doing this work.
One important goal of Rabbi Monty’s is to make sure that both sides of the family come away from the ceremony feeling both represented and included. He wants the ceremony to be an inspiration for a new relationship: one of hope and anticipation of the joys and challenges presented by the creation of a new family based either on shared religious backgrounds or on having secular humanism as a preferred focus.
Rabbi Monty notes that more often than not the interfaith ceremony is in fact a transformative experience. He has learned what the non-Jewish side of the new family may need in addition to what the Jewish side of the new family needs — and he then proceeds to create a balanced script for the ceremony emerging out of that understanding. Always growing along with his couples, he has more recently helped create a joint Hindu-Jewish ceremony! He has scripted deeply spiritual ceremonies for secular humanist couples who prefer not to directly profess a belief in God. He works with each couple via editable Word files until their own wedding ceremony script is personalized exactly as they had envisioned.
Rabbi Monty translates into English all the standard Hebrew blessings and prayers, and family and guests often remark how they feel the ceremony came across as meaningful for them as well. They understood the symbols of the Jewish traditions and felt that the sacredness of the ceremony was passed on to them as witnesses. Many who would otherwise not have found Jewish representation at their ceremony are deeply thankful that Rabbi Monty has made this his life’s mission.
Contact Rabbi Monty directly to ask him about his interfaith Jewish wedding ceremonies. Virtual meetings are easy to set up and can be arranged via Skype, Zoom, FaceTime or with a phone conference, all of which are especially convenient for those who don’t live in the Austin area.