Although this class is not for interfaith couples exclusively, I had interfaith couples in mind when I planned it. The best thing a couple can do is identity and NAME their common values. What EXACTLY do you want to pass on to your children? It doesn’t have to be the same for the both of you. But if you know what each other are aiming for you can co-parent more easily. The rabbi I’ve hired to teach is a warm, accessible man. WARNING: You’re going to fall in love with him and he is retired.
Whether your children are 3 days, 3 years, 13 or 23, you are their parent forever and letting them know what you value most (like – integrity, compassion, acts of kindness) will make you closer to them and open more avenues for sharing your lives.
Writing Your Ethical Will
Is it as important to pass on your values as it is to pass on your possessions? Writing an ethical will is an opportunity to organize your thoughts on topics such as honesty, kindness, and charity, and share them with your children. The document gives insights into the heart and soul of the writer, permanently passing on parents’ values and describing how they wish those values continued, “dor l’ dor” from generation to generation.
Learn to write an ethical will and have the peace of mind that you will be leaving your children a spiritual, ethical, and moral legacy. For interfaith couples, an ethical will is wonderful way to give your children a clear message of your shared values.
The ethical will has its roots in the Torah. “For I have singled him out, that he may instruct his children and his household after him to keep the way of Adonai by doing what is just and right, in order that Adonai may bring about for Abraham what Adonai has promised him.” (Genesis 18:19).
We will take an evening to look at ethical wills from the Middle Ages to modern times. Students will each write an ethical will in the second meeting, and have the opportunity to share them in the final session.
3 Wednesdays – Oct. 24, Nov. 7 & 14
7:30pm
Lehrhaus Judaica, 2736 Bancroft Way, Berkeley
Registration: $30
Register here.