Boy meets girl. They fall in love. She is a Methodist. He is a Jew.

She is the only child of a former US president and the current Secretary of State. He’s the son of two former Congress representatives.

Chelsea Clinton, 29, and Marc Mezvinsky, 31, announced their engagement recently. They told friends they are looking forward to this June when they will marry.

Bill Clinton praised his future son in law as a ''great human being''. Hilary said she was very excited, and gushed, ''It has been extraordinary . . . to see how happy my daughter is and to have such a wonderful young man that will become my son-in-law.''

Former New York mayor Ed Koch, who is Jewish, advised Chelsea to learn a few Chinese dishes. Koch, who reckons all Jewish men like Chinese foods, joked that Chelsea might be a better cook than Jewish women, ''My mother burned everything she ever made''.

Chelsea has attended Yom Kippur services with her groom-to be. But there is no indication she intends to convert to Judaism, unlike Ivanka Trump, daughter of the real-estate mogul who underwent an orthodox conversion to marry Jared Kushner, supposedly, at Jared’s request.  As part of the process, Ivanka, also known by her Hebrew name Yael, would have been immersed in the mikveh, the ritual bath required of women wanting to convert.

So should Chelsea take the dip? How will Bill and Hilary feel about it? Should any woman, or man for that matter, convert to the religion of their partner?  

If Chelsea does not convert, children born to the couple will not be considered Jewish according to traditional Jewish law. Still, the reform movement will accept that child as Jewish if he's brought up in a Jewish household as a Jew.

Celebrity conversions to Judaism have become trendy. I hear that Leonardo Di Caprio is strongly thinking about becoming Jewish so he can marry Israeli model Bar Rafaeli. It has been reported that Lindsay Lohan is on her way because of the love of her life Samantha Ronson. Isla Fisher converted to Judaism before her marriage to Sacha Baron Cohen. And let's not forget Marilyn Monroe Miller who converted when she married playwright Arthur Miller.

Some are saying that conversion to Judaism has become a matter of convenience. Here a joke one columnist offered: ''For appearance's sake, Daddy tells Christopher jnr, that if he wants to marry his daughter Princess, he must become a Jew. What's a Jew?Christopher asks. Like me, answers Daddy.''

For a small minority, the news of the impending nuptials is another sign of the decay of the Jewish people, a loss of Jewish continuity.  

Several commentators have argued that if Marc cares about his heritage, and if he wants his children to be Jewish, he should encourage Chelsea to convert. In the US, where the intermarriage rate has reached more than 50 per cent, research has shown that 90 per cent of the children of  mixed marriages themselves marry non-Jews. Here, the figures of intermarriage are in the mid-20 per cent, crawling towards the 30s.

In The Vanishing American Jew, Alan Dershowitz predicts that if present trends continue, diaspora Jewry may virtually vanish by the third quarter of the 21st century. A 2006 American study concluded that intermarriage ''does indeed constitute the greatest single threat to Jewish continuity today''. Demographers are predicating that zero growth and high disaffiliation from Jewish life could cut the number of Jews significantly in the next two decades.

Nevertheless, reports of the Jewish peoples' demise are premature.

Intermarriage has left its mark on popular discourse. The O.C, a popular American TV series featured a Jewish public defender married to a wealthy non-Jewish developer. Their son dealt with his mixed religious heritage by promoting the family's adoption of Chrismukkah. On the show, Chrismukkah was described as "eight days of presents followed by one day of many presents''. Now, Chrismukkah has been listed in Time as one of the buzz words of 2006 and has been added to the respected Chambers dictionary. There are even books: Chrismukkah! The Merry Mish-Mash Holiday Cookbook and Chrismukkah: The Official Guide to the World's Best-Loved Holiday. A  line of Chrismukkah products such as the ''yarmuclaus" (yarmulke/Santa hat combo)  are now available. Gradually Judaism is perceived as folk culture - bagels, Seinfeld. Even in Australia, a few are celebrating Chrismukkah.
There is even a Hanukkah bush, a sort of a Christmas tree for Jews.

Films and TV have openly dealt with the theme of inter-dating and intermarriage, depicting Jews blending smoothly into such situations. Examples: When Harry Met Sally, White Palace, Prime, The Nanny, Northern Exposure, Mad About You, Friends, Will and Grace, Dharma and Greg, Thirtysomething, LA Law, to name but a few. For the characters on these programs, being Jewish is a marginal. They find emotional and spiritual meaning elsewhere.

Sometimes, things get ugly. There were rumours that Jean Sarkozy, son of the French President and a Catholic was planning to convert to Judaism before marrying his childhood sweetheart, Jessica Sebaoun. After the engagement, French cartoonist Maurice Sinet wrote an article saying Jean "has just said he intends to convert to Judaism before marrying his fiancee, who is Jewish, and the heiress to the founders of Darty. He'll go far, that kid.'' The link Sine was drawing between Jews and money, conversion and social success was hard to miss.

I have heard intermarried couples assert that we should learn to appreciate all cultural traditions, not be immediately bound by the faith of our parents since one's religious background is not one of voluntary choice but an accident of birth. A Melbourne Jewish man whose wife is Catholic explained to me that his parents-in-law vehemently oppose their daughter converting or raising their children as Jews as it is outside their faith and culture.

Whatever you think, let us all wish a Mazal tov to Chelsea and Marc.