A mohel performs a circumcision during a bris (or brit milah) ceremony. (Cheskel Dovid/Wikimedia CC BY 3.0) Circumcision still a volatile topic I received the following letter sent to my Mixed and Matched column at the J-weekly. Dear Dawn: I came across your response to a Jewish mother who was upset that her daughter didn’t want to circumcise…
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I received a number of comments on my March 26 Mixed and Matched column about an 11-year-old who wants a bat mitzvah but would be starting from scratch because she has not been raised Jewish. I’d like to reply to all of you: “A bat mitzvah need not take place at age 13. You can have a…
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I am Jewish, and my husband was Catholic but no longer identifies with any religion. I care strongly about raising our children Jewish, and my husband supports me. Now, with three children, we find this decision to have an increasing impact on our time-strapped lives — what with weekly classes, each child’s class Shabbat, parent…
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From my monthly advice column, Mixed and Matched. I receive a note from a well intended wife/mother/daughter-in-law I am Jewish and my non-Jewish husband and I had a baby six weeks ago. My mother-in-law is Christian and planning to visit us now that we’ve settled in. She called me and begged me to let…
Read More »We are delighted to offer a couple of special programs for Jews by Choice. Anyone is welcome to both of these. You don’t need to be a convert to attend. Everything You Wanted to Know about Conversion to Judaism Join a panel of Jews by choice and Rabbi Delson to learn all about conversion! Have…
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It is common in Jewish parlance to say that someone is “having” or “getting” a bar mitzvah. But it doesn’t really work that way. I love Rabbi Milder’s article on this topic. He covers it while talking about celebrating bar/bat mitzvah as adults. Here’s what he has to say. Let’s talk about Bar/Bat Mitzvah. No…
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