Here’s a question I got from a teenager: My mom is Jewish, my dad is Catholic, and my brother and I were raised Jewish. Last month they told us they had recently written their ethical wills and each plan to be buried in the cemetery of their own faith. I was so stunned that I…
Read More »In the News
Putting an Irish element into your Jewish wedding
A Jewish woman wrote to me asking about how to include something Irish in her wedding to reflect her fiancé’s Irish heritage. Here’s what she asked. My fiancé and I are starting to plan our wedding for next spring. Neither of us is particularly religious. I’m proudly Jewish and he is Irish and was…
Read More »Why is it so hard to find a rabbi for multi-faith wedding?
I received this inquiry recently: Some gay friends wanted a “fully multifaith ceremony.” They felt rejected when no rabbi would agree to co-officiate, but Christian clergy would. I’m not sure how to help them address their feelings in the aftermath. — Sympathetic Friend I answered the question in my monthly Mixed and Matched column for…
Read More »I’m Jewish, she’s Asian—what will our future kids be?
Another question from my Mixed and Matched column in the J-Weekly. I’m a 26-year-old Conservative Jew and celebrate the major Jewish holidays, although I’m not terribly religious. I’ve been dating a Korean girl who is Catholic but also not very religious. We are getting serious and I’m scared. I do love her, she’s my…
Read More »Our adopted baby doesn’t need a ceremony, but I do
March 2014 column of Mixed and Matched in the J-Weekly The question: I am Jewish and my husband is not. We adopted a girl, 8 months old, whose birth mother is not Jewish. We belong to a Reform synagogue and our rabbi said if we raise our daughter with Jewish lifecycle events and synagogue…
Read More »Parents’ divorce set young Jew adrift at the Holidays
The High Holy Days can bring up some intense feelings for every Jew. One young man contacted me with a unique issue around the Holidays – his interfaith parents’ divorce and the subsequent lack of clarity about his status. My dad is Jewish and my mom converted before they got married. Her conversion was…
Read More »