Recently I was with a couple of women, each of whom is married to a non-Jewish man. The first, I’ll call her Lisa, expressed her opinions with great intensity. She had strong beliefs on how to deal with an interfaith marriage, what to do, how to act, what to teach your children, how to…
Read More »Why Bird Shapes? According to “Joan Nathan’s Jewish Holiday Cookbook” (Schocken, 2004), bird-shaped challah rolls, called feygelekh (Yiddish for “little bird”) symbolized “the protection of God’s people as stated in Isaiah 31:5: ‘As birds hovering [over their fledglings], so will the Lord of hosts protect Jerusalem.’” Another interpretation, offered by Linda Burghardt in “Jewish Holiday…
Read More »There are a lot of books for planning weddings! I’m only going to mention my top favorites. A book aimed specifically at interfaith weddings is, Celebrating Interfaith Marriage by Rabbi Devon Lerner. I wouldn’t be recommending this book if I thought it suggested watering down EVERYONE’s traditions. Rabbi Lerner walks you through the wedding traditions…
Read More »This is a true story. A Jewish man called me because he was worried that his Christian wife couldn’t raise their kids as Jews. He told me that she had promised to do so before they got married but she just doesn’t really know how. He sighed and said, “I guess when I married someone…
Read More »Interfaith/Intercultural couples are usually aware that they will have to negotiate differences in their religions, but they may be surprised by needing to navigate cultural differences regarding communication, parenting, parents, and their definition of community. Make the process easier by engaging with other couples facing similar questions. Create an outline of how to approach a…
Read More »Time for our annual trek to the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival! This year BJB is co-presenting Sleeping with the Fishes. The critics say: Writer/ director Nicole Gomez Fisher’s delightful debut brings this quirky story of a dysfunctional yet loving Latino Jewish family to uproarious life. Get your ticket and join us! We’ll go out…
Read More »Our weekly email goes out to hundreds of interfaith couples & families in the Bay Area. Topics cover the many questions and mysteries that interfaith couples want answered.