A Good Thing At My Shul

Sunday, December 4
Not Jewish and Raising Jewish Children? Discussion
Come join our discussion of the joys and challenges of celebrating Hanukkah and other Jewish holidays. Learn holiday basics. Facilitated by someone married to a non-Jewish spouse. No charge.

A good thing -- I hope it goes well. And here's what I wrote in a note to the mom who initially posted about on the DCUM list about the idea of doing such an event/getting together such a parents' group:

... I'm one of those children raised Jewish by one non-Jewish parent (dad) and one Jewish parent (mom) [in a DC-area synagogue, in fact: I grew up here 'til I was 15 and was bat mitzvahed in '87 at Arlington Fairfax Jewish Congregation [now Etz Hayim], before my family moved to Louisville, KY, where they still live] and my husband's parents are Catholic -- so our 2-year-old daughter S. has one Jewish and 3 non-Jewish grandparents... I appreciate that fact that there's attention being paid to interfaith family issues that can affect all kinds of Jewishly involved families, of various compositions! If there's anything I can do to be helpful or supportive, please let me know -- on the one hand, I'm not in the demographic you're addressing directly here; on the other hand, sometimes it seems like it's useful to people to see someone X years on from the kind of upbringing their children may be having who thinks it's a fine & dandy thing (because even though much of the community is supportive of intermarried families, it can sometimes still feel like an uphill climb -- and there are definitely people who are surprised that my father's not Jewish, has never converted, etc., because of whatever preconceptions they have...)