While I believe we can’t make Hanukkah into Christmas because we don’t have 99% compliance from the American public, we can certainly make Hanukkah a big date on our own social calendar. My sister-in-law throws a big Christmas Eve Party for Jewish Orphans — that is Jews who don’t do Christmas. It has turned into…
Read More »I’m in the planning stage of a program on adoption in interfaith/intercultural and Jewish families. As I spoke to various local people who are adoptive parents I got this email from Michael Tejeda, a gentleman who has been generous in sharing his insights. As you might expect, I have some opinions about this. I didn’t…
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Yes, being different is a fine thing to be I received this question to my column, Mixed and Matched: I’ve heard people say that Jews shouldn’t refer to people who aren’t Jewish as “non-Jews.” Is that really a pejorative term? What should one say? Many of my non-Jewish friends don’t have a religion at…
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One of the challenges for people who have grown up in an interfaith family that has created its own little universe is that there’s not necessarily a community that one can join that reflects your choices. Here’s one woman’s difficulty. My mother was raised Jewish and converted to Christianity when she married my Christian…
Read More »The following message was sent to me via my monthly column, Mixed and Matched – My dad is Jewish, but my parents raised me with no religion at all. I’ve always been spiritually minded and wanted a connection to God. I found a rabbi who was very kind and sympathetic. I told her that I…
Read More »One of the speakers at this Sunday’s Growing Up Interfaith Conference is Zoe Francesca. Zoe agreed to write an op-ed for the Jweekly. Here is her beautiful, heartfelt article. I’m looking forward to the “Growing Up Interfaith” conference coming up this weekend in Oakland. It’s still a bit uncomfortable to reveal that I am a…
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