RJ Blog

Our cup runneth over! Because of our collective efforts, we flooded the Senate with some 10,000 calls from Americans of faith at precisely the right moment preceding the Senate debate and imminent vote on a bill. Our success is a testament to the dedication of more than 75 diverse religious denominations and organizations who worked tirelessly to promote Faiths Calling and to encourage their members and congregants to call the Senate. Among the top recipients of calls during yesterday’s campaign was Senator Toomey (R-PA), who today introduced a compromise bill with Senator Manchin (D-WV) seeking to expand background checks to gun shows and Internet [...]

My name is Rachel Jurisz-Singh. Some of you know me by the name I use professionally – Jurisz – which is actually my maiden name. Yes, I am intermarried and my family is interracial too. Growing up I never thought I would choose to marry outside of my faith. I was always involved in my synagogue and youth group. I went to Jewish summer camp and attended Hebrew school through my senior year of high school. I even chose my career path in the Jewish field, working at four major Jewish organizations in the last 14 years.

by Marjorie Freeman My husband attended a Southern Baptist Church with his grandmother as a small child, and then a Methodist Church with his parents and with his first wife. We married, and the wise Reform rabbi who married us, Rabbi Robert Rothman of the Community Synagogue in Rye, NY, suggested that my new husband bring a brown-bag lunch and join him once a week to learn about my Jewish background so he would be able to understand me better. After a year or more, my husband felt that Judaism made more sense than the Christianity he grew up with, and converted. But [...]

by Rabbi Robin Nafshi Serving as the rabbi in the small community of Concord, NH, I receive so many emails and calls from people exploring Judaism, those who are nominally Jewish or estranged from Judaism, and more. For each email and call there is a story – usually compelling in some way – and an excited or anxious person who owns the story. A few weeks ago, such an email came my way, with the subject line, “Reestablishing.” The writer began, “I am very interested in rediscovering my Jewish faith. My dad was Jewish and my mom was Protestant. I was [...]

Why do we celebrate this — or that? Do we combine holidays? How are the holidays different? How do *I* feel about being a Jew during this time of year? Why can’t I have a tree? What does going to church with your family mean to you?

by Rabbi Frederick Reeves There is a conversation I have frequently at this time of the year. It can happen anytime I find myself at a party that has people who are not members of my synagogue and I find that, through friends and my wife’s work colleagues, December brings on a fair number of just such parties. Invariably, small talk is made, and then comes the question: “So, what do you do?” After I reply that I am a rabbi, I get all kinds of remarks. Jews tell me about how spiritual they are even though they never go [...]

by Rabbi Stephen J. Einstein I grew up in the 1960s. In those days, Jewish parents very strongly urged their kids to date only Jews. When any of my friends chose otherwise, there was tension at home (this is an understatement!) As far as marriage went, there was no question. Jews married Jews. Period. Bob Dylan (formerly Robert Zimmerman) was the icon of our era. His song said it all: “The times…they are a-changin’” And so the old norms altered – and I mean for real. Jews began to date people from other backgrounds to a greater degree than had [...]

by Julie Unger December is a tricky month for many interfaith couples and their families. It evokes nostalgic childhood memories and family traditions that are deeply rooted; so you’re bound to have a little conflict. To respect both sides and to minimize conflict, it’s important to discuss the December holiday plans and practices early on in your relationship. After about a year of dating, Matt and I decided that Thanksgiving would be spent with Matt’s family in Seattle, Washington, and Hanukkah/winter break would be spent with my folks in Safety Harbor, Florida. We seriously discussed this setup while we were [...]

by Rabbi Joshua Eli Plaut, PhD Two significant historical events facilitated the growing awareness for Americans that Hanukkah was a major holiday for Jewish people and that it was fast becoming attendant to Christmas festivities. The first was the formal recognition of Hanukkah by the White House that was accompanied by a menorah lighting ceremony. On December 17, 1979, President Jimmy Carter became the first sitting American president to participate in the lighting of a public menorah, located across the street from the White House in Lafayette Park. Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Abraham Shemtov attended the presidential lighting ceremony and presented President Carter [...]

by Alan S. Halpern I confess to a prejudice. When a synagogue or church website proclaims, “We are a warm and welcoming congregation,” I am immediately skeptical. Why tell me you are warm and welcoming? Just be warm and welcoming. When I visit a friend’s home, my friends don’t claim to be warm and welcoming. They open the door, they smile, they say “hello,” and they invite me inside. Synagogues must do the same. At our congregations, someone has to answer the phone, open the door, and greet our visitors. Someone has to write the newsletter, maintain the website, post [...]

by Rabbi Elias Lieberman Like many congregations within the Reform Movement, our community of 310 households has many interfaith families. Some 65% of the children in our education program have a parent who is not a Jew. In every case, however, these interfaith couples have made a decision to raise their children as Jews and have turned to our synagogue to help them in that process. In the 22 years that I’ve been privileged to serve as rabbi of the Falmouth Jewish Congregation, I have witnessed firsthand a generation raised by interfaith parents come of age with strong Jewish identities. [...]

by Jordan Peck Make sure you are helping your partner get what they need. This was a simple yet powerful concept my fiancée and I learned while participating in the free ‘Inside interfaith Relationships’ workshop through Reform Jewish Outreach Boston. Emily is a self-described “C and E” (Christmas and Easter) Congregationalist Protestant, I grew up Conservative Jewish but starting in college I became a “Y, C, and P” Jew (Yom Kippur, Chanukah, Passover). Despite our different religious upbringings we fell in love and became inseparable quickly and only small things reminded us of our different upbringings. During the first three [...]

by Rabbi Donald Kunstadt Debating what movie to watch Saturday night, I was glad we did not follow A. O. Scott’s review in the New York Times of Life of Pi. IMBD rated it quite highly, so we went with that opinion. I am certainly thankful we went with the latter. Having studied religion at Berkeley, I found the entire movie a delight of open-minded religious synergism that I only wish was shared by more people in the world. Unfortunately it is not, and what is more, world opinion seems to be only intensifying in the opposite direction, toward greater [...]

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the Israelite people saying: When any of you or of your posterity who are defiled by a corpse or are on a long journey [on the date of Passover, the 14th of the first month] would offer a Passover sacrifice to the Lord, they shall offer it in the second month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight. -Numbers 9:9-11 When we met with the parents of the Galilee Circus kids to discuss our planned trip to the US, I expressed concern as to how the Muslim performers (half [...]