(On a Jewish man marrying outside the faith and being ostracized by his peers)

Doche be’yemin umekarev b’smol.

I would categorically not attend an intermarriage, nor would I do anything whatever to recognize, encourage, or legitimize the union. For example, I would never address the couple as Mr. and Mrs.; if they came to my house I would not allow them to sleep over in one room (if they chose to go to a hotel, that’s their decision).

On the other hand, I would not shut out the Jewish partner. I would do everything I could (in a menshliche way) to bring about the dissolution of that union.

There is a story told (was it another one of Rabbi Shafran’s pieces?) along that line about a woman who intermarried. Her mother never stopped expressing her love for her daughter. The daughter frequently visited her mother’s home, and eventually, due to the maternal love which was never withheld, “divorced” her “husband” and returned to her roots.

Good Shabbos and nechamah to all.