When you date or marry a Jew… Most non-Jewish Americans feel they know a decent amount about Judaism. But when they partner up with a Jew they learn there’s a lot more to it than Tevye and bagels. Not only are there many aspects to Judaism as a whole, but every individual Jew wants to…
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A wise psychotherapist compared a non-Jew living in a Jewish community to a tourist visiting a new country. Dr. Perel is herself a transplant from Belgium to the United States. She uniquely positioned to view two cultures from inside and outside. Often Jews are so accustom to being the outsider that they are frantic to…
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You could reframe this question as, “Are relationships hard?” The answer is sure. Some are easier than others, but sharing your life with another complete human is hard. You have to share, you have to give some things up, you have to take on things that don’t thrill you. In an interfaith relationship there are…
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From my Mixed and Matched column in the J weekly Dear Dawn: I am Protestant and my husband is Jewish. We belong to a wonderful synagogue where our children attend Hebrew school. We enjoy services and have a nice group of friends. The problem: his relatives. They are way too involved in our day-to-day lives,…
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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…
Read More »Every 9/11 we remember that hellish morning when we learned that planes had hit in New York, Washington DC, and Pennsylvania. We know just where we were standing, what we were doing when we learned of the attack. One young man, an Oakland firefighter who went to New York as part of the mobilization of…
Read More »Our weekly email goes out to hundreds of interfaith couples & families in the Bay Area. Topics cover the many questions and mysteries that interfaith couples want answered.