My first contact with Harold Berman was about seven years ago. I had written something about work I was then doing with intermarried families in which the non-Jewish partner was in the process of converting and he sent me a proposal for mentoring such couples.
It was the most thorough proposal of its kind that I had ever read — not surprising since Harold’s position at the time as executive director of the Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts involved writing lots of such proposals. Subsequently I met Harold his wife Gayle and their children Michah and Ilana on a family visit toIsrael.
Not by accident did the Bermans turn their attention to intermarried couples. When they first met Harold was a clarinetist with the US Air Force band stationed inSan AntonioTexas and Gayle was the choral director of aTexasmegachurch and former winner of the Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions. Music drew them together.
And the fact that Harold was Jewish and Gayle Christian did not seem like an insurmountable obstacle to marriage. Harold too often performed both as a vocalist and musician in churches. Neither wanted children at that stage of their lives so the issue of what religion to raise children did not trouble them.
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