Grandparents are key bridges between Jewish identity and grandchildren—especially those being raised by one Jewish parent, whether single or intermarried. Lessons from the National Jewish Grandparents Study and intergenerational best practices will be discussed. Dr. Keren R. McGinity is the inaugural Interfaith Specialist at the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and a renowned author. She is also a research associate at the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute at Brandeis University where she taught American Studies. Prior to joining USCJ, Dr. McGinity was the founding director of the Interfaith Families Jewish Engagement graduate program at Hebrew College. Her pioneering books, Still Jewish: A History of Women & Intermarriage in America (NYU Press 2009), a National Jewish Book Award Finalist, and Marrying Out: Jewish Men, Intermarriage & Fatherhood (Indiana Univ. Press 2014), provided groundbreaking analyses about Jewish continuity by focusing on gender and change over time. The title of her new book is “#UsToo: How Jewish, Muslim, & Christian Women Changed Our Communities” (Routledge, under contract). She is a Forward 50 honoree for her clarion call for a Jewish response to the #MeToo Movement.
