New York's Syrian Jews Enforce Strict Edict Against Intermarriage

Do religious institutions retain any power to enforce rules over their members in an open society like that in the United States when civil courts clearly will not act as enforcers? Today's New York Times Magazine carries a long article on how the economically thriving 75,000-member Syrian Jewish community in Brooklyn has been successful in carrying out a rabbinic Edict issued over 70 years ago. The unusual Edict bars the community's Syrian Jews not only from marrying non-Jews, but also from marrying converts to Judaism. The few who ignore the ban are effectively ostracized by the community, including their own families.