A prayer before bedtime A Christian mom on this list told me that she was raised saying a prayer before bedtime. In thinking over the prayer she realized that there was nothing about Jesus, nothing anti-Jewish in it and began saying it with her own children. She loves having something from her own childhood that…
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Looking for a Synagogue?
Judaism is an ancient tradition with its roots in an agricultural society. That means that for the first thousands of years summertime found the Jews out tending the flocks and the crops. Not surprisingly then, summer lacks the plethora of holidays that we get the rest of the year. What to do in the summer?…
Read More »What’s all that about the Jews being “chosen”?
(A bee doing her job.) The concept of ‘chosen-ness’ really messes with some people’s minds. Let’s clear it up so we can be productive. I read a drash/teaching by a friend for the parshah Kedoshim (teaching on a section of the Jewish bible). He said: The Parshah of Kedoshim begins with the statement, ’You…
Read More »Can We Raise ‘spiritual’ children with Dual Identities?
Another question from my Mixed and Matched column in the J-Weekly. My husband is not Jewish; I am. Neither of us is very religious, but we are spiritual. Our kids are 3 and 5, and we can’t figure out what to do about religion. We want them to understand both of us and our…
Read More »A Non-Jewish Man Reflects on Raising Jewish Children
In my January 2014 column, Mixed and Matched, I shared a letter from a Jewish Dad who felt his wife was not doing enough to raise his children as Jews. After reading the article a gentleman who is the non-Jewish husband in a couple who has participated in my programs wrote a very astute article…
Read More »A Non-Jewish Mother Reflects on Raising Jewish Children
In January 2014 my Mixed and Matched column addressed the concerns a Jewish Dad had about his wife’s ‘failure’ to raise the kids Jewish. Many people reacted to the article with some anger at his failure to take responsibility for raising his own children. But some non-Jewish spouses had other thoughts. One non-Jewish mother had…
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