Help! I Think My Mom Lied About Being Jewish

The Seesaw for The Jewish Daily Forward   

I am a Jewish woman who raised her family Jewish, or so I thought. I bar mitzvahed my son and recently sent him on Birthright, after which he became interested in our ancestry and began to do some digging around. He discovered that none of my mom’s ancestors seem to be Jewish. She says we should ignore this and that she, and therefore we, are Jewish, but I nevertheless have started to feel insecure about it. If my mom is lying, and neither my father nor husband are Jewish, are we still Jewish?

Conversion Might Be in Your Future

A friend once contemplated what he’d do if he woke up one morning and discovered he wasn’t Jewish. Because Judaism is central to his life, he believes he would do whatever it takes to become and remain unambiguously Jewish. In his case, that would mean an Orthodox conversion. But a cousin of mine, upon learning of my wife’s own Orthodox conversion, remarked that she’d have to think long and hard about converting if she suddenly learned she wasn’t Jewish.

Continue reading.

Follow us on   

He Says He Wants To Be Christian and Bar Mitzvahed

The Seesaw for The Jewish Daily Forward

We are a Christian dad and a Jewish mom and have been raising our son with exposure to both religions. This summer my son went to a popular Christian camp because all his friends were going and we didn’t want him to feel like he is missing out. He is 11 and heading into middle school next year.

He just came back from camp and is expressing interest in becoming more Christian. However, he still says he wants to have his Bar Mitzvah. Now I am wondering, can he really be both Christian and Jewish? Also, how can I help him navigate this?

You Need to Figure Out Your Priorities First

You can’t begin to help him navigate this until you and your spouse know exactly what you are trying to accomplish. As an observant Jew, I have a clear goal to raise my Jewish children as Jews, with all the richness, beauty and meaning that Judaism can offer them.

Continue reading. 

Follow us on   

Sukkot Blessings

This article has been reprinted with permission from InterfaithFamily

For those looking for a quick, easy reference to guide them through the home (and in the sukkah) ritual blessings for Sukkot, this resource is for you!

Our handy Sukkot Blessings, in an easy-to-print PDF format, includes the customary prayers said in the sukkah and when we shake the lulav, all in Hebrew and transliteration, with traditional and alternative translations as well.

Not sure how to pronounce the Hebrew? Read along, in transliteration or in Hebrew, and listen to each blessing:


You can also watch this video on how to shake to lulav:

SORRY: The Hardest, And Perhaps Most Powerful, Word

by Rabbi Robyn Frisch. This article has been reprinted with permission from InterfaithFamily

One of my favorite children’s books for Yom Kippur is Jacqueline Jules’ The Hardest Word: A Yom Kippur Story. It’s about the Ziz, an enormous bird with dark red wings and a purple forehead. The Ziz’s giant wings are always knocking things over. One day, after the Ziz mistakenly knocks over a big tree with his wings and the tree then knocks over another tree, which smashes a children’s vegetable garden, the Ziz goes to God and asks God how he can make things better.

God instructs the Ziz to search the earth and bring back “the hardest word.” The Ziz stretches out his big red wings and goes off to search, coming back to God over one hundred times with a variety of words. Each time God sends the Ziz back out, insisting that there is still a harder word.

Finally, the Ziz, discouraged, flies back for one last discussion with God:

Continue reading.

Help! Will My Grandchildren Be Catholic?

The Seesaw for The Jewish Daily Forward

My daughter just got engaged to a Catholic man. He is a fine gentleman, extremely respectful, and we get along well. She recently let us know that after a long discussion she accepted his request that their future children be raised Catholic. She herself will remain a Jew and they will join our family for the important Jewish holidays, along with the occasional Shabbat dinner.

She indicated that if she didn’t accept the children being raised Catholic the engagement would more than likely not happen. It was a deal breaker for him and his religious family. My daughter had hoped that the children, as my wife and I hoped, would be raised interfaith. We are not very observant, but have a strong Jewish identity that means a lot to us.

Read more. 

Follow us on   

High Holy Days: the Basics

This article has been reprinted with permission from InterfaithFamily

Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), together, are known as the High Holy Days (or High Holidays).

For many, this is the only time of the year we go to synagogue. For others, it's a chance to reflect, take stock of the past year and make amends. It's a holiday season that is rich in symbols, like the shofar or apples dipped in honey.

This booklet, High Holy Days: the Basics, explains the Days of Awe, starting with Rosh Hashanah and running through Yom Kippur, including what to expect at synagogue services, what the home celebrations may look like and concluding with a glossary of useful terms.

Continue reading.

Check out Jvillage’s High Holiday+    page.

Will Other Movements Follow?

By Lisa Hostein for The Jewish Week

When Rabbi Aaron Panken took over as president of the Reform movement’s Hebrew Union College — Jewish Institute of Religion in June 2014, one of the first issues he inherited from his predecessor was the very question the Reconstructionist movement is grappling with now. A group of students at HUC was pushing the administration to re-examine its ban on admitting and graduating students in interfaith relationships.

Rabbi Panken, whose movement is the largest in the country, launched an extensive process to solicit the views of the seminary’s faculty and students along with congregations, rabbis and other stakeholders, to determine if such a change was warranted.

Continue reading.

Follow us on