“My wife and I knew that raising biracial Jewish kids meant there would be situations when people would question their Jewish authenticity. We thought about scenarios that could come up. We brainstormed how to response and how to teach the kids to respond. We told them, “You owe nobody an explanation. No one has the…
Read More »Parenting
What my Mom said about Christmas
My mom and I are Jewish, my dad is Catholic. Growing up we were members of a synagogue and I went to Hebrew school. When I got close to my bat mitzvah it suddenly hit me, We have a Christmas tree! I went to my parents and said, “We have to stop having a tree….
Read More »Thinking about Women & Relationships
Women are typically more comfortable discussing the challenges of their marriage and parenting. So when husbands balk at coming to a program Women in Interfaith Relationships is a great option because the women can attend and take the good ideas home to share. I am not saying that men never discuss these things, only that…
Read More »Are Our Children Jewish?
Patrilineal Descent, Reform Judaism and those other Jews In 1983 the Reform movement officially recognized children of Jewish fathers as Jewish. But if you read the statement it says that every child of a mixed marriage, whether the mother or father is Jewish, must establish their identity as a Jew “through appropriate and timely public…
Read More »Jewish Activities + Save the Date
This week a Jewish woman called me and asked, “Could my husband and I come talk to you about how it is for kids to be raised in an interfaith family? What do they tell you about what works for them?” Of course, I said yes. I was thrilled that this couple is asking, what…
Read More »How to Handle Kids Who Say, “Jews are going to hell”?
I received this question from a Jewish mom to my Mixed and Matched column: My husband was raised in a nominally Christian family. We are raising our kids Jewish. Our oldest is going to public school in the fall. I feel like I should prepare our son for the inevitable Christian child who tells him,…
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