Jewish Couples - A Wedding Related Question

I saw an old friend last night and I don't remember how it came up but she asked me if DH and I were tested for Tay-Sachs before we were married. I was Then she told me we probably weren't since DH wasn't Jewish. She told me that her rabbi would not marry them until they had the tests. She said that this is done with all couples were both are Jewish - as both could be carriers. Never heard of this!!
Have any of you? Did anyone need to be tested?

Re: Jewish Couples - A Wedding Related Question

I'm Jewish and Dh is not...but I have never heard of that.

I know if you are both Jewish you should be tested before TTC, but never heard about testing before marraige!

Re: Jewish Couples - A Wedding Related Question

we're both jewish so we weren't asked. i've never heard of it. it might be a stupdi question, but what is it

Re: Jewish Couples - A Wedding Related Question

My freind is Catholic and her DH is jewish. His parents want them to be tested. Otherwise I never heard of it.

Re: Jewish Couples - A Wedding Related Question

Tay-Sachs is a disease that affects mostly Jewish people from Eastern European backgrounds.

Lisa - thank you. When she asked, I kept saying "But we're not TTC-ing yet, we didn't have any genetic testing yet!"

I consider myself pretty knowledgeble on all things Jewish (LOL) and I had NEVER heard of this!

Re: Jewish Couples - A Wedding Related Question

Its a fatal genetic disorder that can be carried by Askhenazi Jewish people.

Re: Jewish Couples - A Wedding Related Question

I was tested before I was married because I didnt want to think about it afterwards and that was the only reason. Had I been a carrier, DH would have been tested. Coincidentally, we both have modern orthodox doctors. He did ask his doctor if he should be tested, and his response was something along the lines of (paraphrasing here) "You dont need to be tested unless SHE is a carrier." Which I happen to know is total BS. Either parent can be tested.

I remember seeing an episode of SVU where a mother killed her child, she said, because it had Tay Sachs and she didn't want it to suffer through a painful life. It turned out, that her husband was a convert and the baby wasn't (nor could it have been ) his. The mother, who was a carrier, had an affair with a Jewish man who WAS a carrier.

Re: Jewish Couples - A Wedding Related Question

One couple who we are close friends with had the testing done before they were married, but I don't think it was the Rabbi's requirement.

I had it done after I was married, just so we knew and could plan if I was a carrier.

Re: Jewish Couples - A Wedding Related Question

Re: Jewish Couples - A Wedding Related Question

Here is a link to info on Tay Sachs:

Tay Sach's

It is pretty informative.

Re: Jewish Couples - A Wedding Related Question

Posted by mrswask

Posted by Goldi0218

I remember seeing an episode of SVU where a mother killed her child, she said, because it had Tay Sachs and she didn't want it to suffer through a painful life. It turned out, that her husband was a convert and the baby wasn't (nor could it have been ) his. The mother, who was a carrier, had an affair with a Jewish man who WAS a carrier.

]

Oooh - I remember that episode!!

Re: Jewish Couples - A Wedding Related Question

Yes, I was tested before we got married.

Re: Jewish Couples - A Wedding Related Question

Re: Jewish Couples - A Wedding Related Question

I've heard of it being strongly suggested, but never a requirement..but maybe this Rabbi has had a lot of experiences with couples who were carriers and decided to make it a requirement.

Re: Jewish Couples - A Wedding Related Question

dh and i havent been tested yet for the jewish genetic blood diseases.
we're going to wait until we're ready to TTC.

the diseases mostly occur when both people are of ashkenazi descent and both people have to be carriers.

DH's father is sephardic, so we should be ok and no one has any of the diseases in either family.

ETA:
blood tests are not required by law, but are strongly recommended when TTC

Message edited 9/4/2006 5:01:29 PM.

Re: Jewish Couples - A Wedding Related Question

I know that it is often strongly urged, but I have never heard of it being a requirement.

Re: Jewish Couples - A Wedding Related Question

we only got tested before we started ttc.

Re: Jewish Couples - A Wedding Related Question

It wasn't a requirement for us, but I happen to know that neither of my parents are carriers. My Dad told me that years ago.

Re: Jewish Couples - A Wedding Related Question

I know that they had us take a test when we got preggo b/c DH's mom is Jewish.

Re: Jewish Couples - A Wedding Related Question

we're both jewish and no tests were needed to get married

Re: Jewish Couples - A Wedding Related Question

we are both Jewish and were not tested. I think it really depends on where you are descended from.

Re: Jewish Couples - A Wedding Related Question

DH and I are both jewish and no we didnt need to be tested. However, yes many yrs ago they did need to be tested before getting married. ALso now that I am28 weeks preggo, when we first conceived jewish couples have extra blood drawn for diseases such as tay sachs that can be passed to children. In our case we were fine ...no problems thank god!

Re: Jewish Couples - A Wedding Related Question

We were tested before TTC

Re: Jewish Couples - A Wedding Related Question

We're both Jewish, but DH is Sephardic so its a very low chance of Tay Sachs. We never had to get tested before we got married, but I did get tested before we started TTC. We were both negative and have a healthy baby girl!!!

My sister and her DH are both ashkenazi and I don't think they got tested.