In a conversation with a young person who is Asian and Jewish (yes, halachically Jewish, as in has a Jewish mother) I asked, “Are you comfortable in a synagogue?” The answer was, no, so I asked why. The answer: 1. I didn’t get much Jewish education so I don’t really know what’s going on…
Read More »Planning a b’nai mitzvah is stressful enough if you had one yourself, but if you weren’t raised Jewish it can be truly nerve wracking. There are the questions of how the study process works, timing, sessions, amount to be learned, how to help your child succeed. Then there’s the non-Jewish partner and extended family. How…
Read More »A Jewish woman marrying a non-Jewish man sent in this angst-ridden question to Boston’s Jewish Journal: I am marrying into a lovely family that is not Jewish. My family is hosting a dinner to meet the future in-laws. My mother, who prides herself on being a superb cook, is planning to serve all her Jewish…
Read More »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 »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 »This is a true story. A Jewish man called me because he was worried that his Christian wife couldn’t raise their kids as Jews. He told me that she had promised to do so before they got married but she just doesn’t really know how. He sighed and said, “I guess when I married someone…
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