For Interfaith, intercultural families and those who love them Children offer us the remarkable opportunity to become our better selves. They challenge our assumptions, our patience, and our certainty. They also fill us with pride, worry, joy and a reason to make sacrifices. In a generation that has tried to balance freedom with discipline, children’s…
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Planning for the Christmas season
Perhaps you are raising your kids as Jews and you celebrate Christmas. Maybe you are still trying to find the right words to use to describe your decision to your kids, extended family or friends. I’m going to focus on the kids and what comes from this should work for adults. First, talk with…
Read More »What can we do for Hanukkah?
There are Hanukkah events going on all around the bay. Find some of the below. Email me with others you want to share. Light some lights! Have some fun! Light It Up! Casino Royale Style Join hundreds of young adults for the most rockin’ Hanukkah party in the South Bay! The evening will feature DJ,…
Read More »Interfaith or Interracial or Inter-ethnic: Jewish Families All
John Citron opened his presentation with, “My wife, Felicia, and I have been on a number of Dawn’s panels – interfaith and interracial and now both.” He went on to describe how they have raised their kids as Jews with an understanding of their Chinese heritage. Debbie, wife and mother in a Jewish Filipino home…
Read More »Was that God?
The April that my son was eight years old we were preparing for Passover. My husband and kids had searched the house for chametz (the crumbs of leavening). Tradition says that you burn the chametz. So my husband put a strip of aluminum foil over the gas stove’s burner and turned on the flame. The…
Read More »Talking to Children About God
Join Rabbi Straus and other parents to explore children’s concepts of God. Should parents open a conversation about God or wait for children to ask questions? What if you don’t believe in God but your spouse does? What should you say about what they are being taught in Religious School? What if you and your…
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