Spirituality

Children and Bedtime Prayers

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…

Read More »

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 »

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…

Read More »