If your child is a patrilineal Jew or a person of color, they may be assumed to not be Jewish. How can you build a strong identity for them? A wonderful couple I know has five grown children who are interracial and intercultural. Their Chinese mom converted before marriage. The couple raised their children Jewish…
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A letter to my Mixed and Matched column in the J weekly. My husband, Bob, and I are Jewish and we raised our two boys Jewish at a Reform synagogue. Now our youngest has married a lovely Catholic woman and they are planning to raise their children Catholic. I feel that I did my…
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(This Mixed and Matched article was originally published in the J weekly in March 2018) My husband is Jewish and I am Catholic. We have agreed to raise our 3-year-old son as a Jew. I have seen the preschool at a local Conservative synagogue and I would really like to enroll my son. From what…
Read More »Our Jewish community is increasingly multiracial, raising multiracial Jewish children is a relatively new phenomenon. Not many parents have the example of their own parents. Parents of multiracial kids have to consider: What is it like growing up Jewish if you consistently told “you don’t look Jewish” What comments and behaviors impact a multiracial child’s…
Read More »Raising Kids in an Interfaith Family As partners and parents we want the best for each member of our family. Does that mean putting our relationship before the children? Can’t we give equally to our partner and our kids? There is no one-size-fits-all approach to love and parenting in any family, including interfaith families. Together…
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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…
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