Two just claims can conflict. Two people of good will can be at odds. Should one side be eliminated in order to have peace? Or can we compromise and live with people with whom we disagree? This question arises frequently when interfaith couples are addressing patrilineal descent – children of a Jewish father and a…
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(This column first appeared in the J-weekly on Feb. 10, 2021) Dear Dawn: I was raised Reform, but am now a nonpracticing Jew married to a non-Jewish woman. We were married by my Reform rabbi and are expecting a baby. My wife has no religion and has agreed to raise the child Jewish and even…
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(This originally appeared in the J-weekly in my Mixed and Match column, April 13, 2020) Dear Dawn: I keep being told that my kids aren’t Jewish because I am not Jewish. I am sick of hearing this! Any ideas how I can shut people down? I’ve tried a whole range. I’ve been angry: “Oh go…
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(This article originally appeared in the J-weekly Mixed and Matched column.) Dear Dawn: My son Joey’s bar mitzvah was scheduled for June of this year and now it can’t happen as planned. Our synagogue is closed. Some of my son’s peers are having a Zoom bar mitzvah on their scheduled date and planning to have…
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(Family bat mitzvah) A letter to my Mixed and Matched Column in the J-Weekly Dear Dawn: How do I encourage a do-nothing tween to want a bat mitzvah? At 11, my daughter doesn’t want to do anything except watch YouTube all day. Complains about going to Sunday school but has fun once there. I suspect as…
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A mohel performs a circumcision during a bris (or brit milah) ceremony. (Cheskel Dovid/Wikimedia CC BY 3.0) Circumcision still a volatile topic I received the following letter sent to my Mixed and Matched column at the J-weekly. Dear Dawn: I came across your response to a Jewish mother who was upset that her daughter didn’t want to circumcise…
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