Is Purim a Good Jewish Holiday for Non-Jewish Loved Ones? I’ve been asked about Purim as a “first” Jewish experience for non-Jewish loved ones. Purim is a two faced holiday. The dark side and the light side. Learn about both of them and help your partner or in-laws to see the many layers. A good…
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A Scholarly Catholic View of Judaism
I was given this article, A Sacred Obligation, by a Catholic priest many years ago. I love the very rabbinic way in which they ask questions of God in regard to Jews and Judaism. There are some very meaningful questions and answers that may comfort or reassure individuals whose children marry a Jew and raise…
Read More »My Christian Boyfriend loves Yom Kippur, Won’t all Christians?
(A recent letter for my Mixed and Matched column in the J weekly.) Dear Dawn In the past you have said that a Jew shouldn’t make the High Holiday services the very first Jewish service that their non-Jewish partner experiences. But last year my observant Christian boyfriend loved Yom Kippur. He said he likes it…
Read More »My boyfriend is an atheist and I’m a believer
Dear Dawn: You wrote previously about a couple where one partner is Jewish and the other claims to be an atheist. But the atheist still had “warm” feelings for his church. My boyfriend is a true atheist and dislikes all religion. He doesn’t have any warm memories of community or shared holidays. He thinks religion is just…
Read More »My Husband is distraught over Catholic grandchildren
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…
Read More »Sukkot is a great “first” Jewish holiday for non-Jewish loved ones
Another letter from my Mixed and Matched column Dear Dawn: My friends and family agree with you that the High Holy Days were not the right time to introduce my boyfriend to Judaism. So when is the right time? I don’t want to scare him, but being Jewish is very important to me. I…
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