There are a lot of books for planning weddings! I’m only going to mention my top favorites. A book aimed specifically at interfaith weddings is, Celebrating Interfaith Marriage by Rabbi Devon Lerner. I wouldn’t be recommending this book if I thought it suggested watering down EVERYONE’s traditions. Rabbi Lerner walks you through the wedding traditions…
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Honoring Your Mother and Father…
How Can We Dealing Graciously with our children’s Grandparents? How do you tell your parents about the different choices you’ve made? It can be hard to say, we’re raising the kids Jewish. We will/won’t have a Christmas tree. The baby will/won’t be baptized, receive a bris, have a bar mitzvah. What can we tell the…
Read More »Divvy up Holiday responsibilities
Do you have holidays that are ‘assigned’ to a particular family member or friend? That is, we’ll all be at Susan’s for Thanksgiving, at Mom’s for Chanukah and we’ll meet the Tanners in the park for our 4th of July picnic. Some years ago I figured out that while I have lots of wonderful…
Read More »The Joys and Challenges of Raising Jewish Children in Interfaith Families
For Interfaith, intercultural families and those who love them Children offer us the remarkable opportunity to become our better selves. They challenge our assumptions, our patience, and our certainty. They also fill us with pride, worry, joy and a reason to make sacrifices. In a generation that has tried to balance freedom with discipline, children’s…
Read More »Talking to Children in Age Appropriate Ways
A common question for a non-Jewish parent is, “What about my holidays, like Christmas? What do I say to my kids when I don’t believe as a Jew? When is it age appropriate to teach them about my faith?” I want to give you a shorthand way of determining what is “age appropriate.” Much of…
Read More »Find Your Place
This has been a week filled with wonderful moments. On Friday night a friend of mine had his adult bar mitzvah. My friend is gay and specifically chose Achrai Mot/Kiddushim as his Torah portion so he could speak on those very difficult passages in Leviticus. He was magnificent! But it was not just his chanting…
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