Interfaith families

[mikeys_mom]

Yes, there are 3 blessings on the first night and 2 on the other 7 seven nights.

You can find them all here;

http://www.chabad.org/library/howto/...-Blessings.htm

[momma_boo]

Just chiming in with my experience on interfaith families. DH is a not-at-all practicing Jew and I was raised Christian. Before we had kids, we decided they would be raised going to church but would learn about the culture/heritage of Judaism. I had stopped going to church a while ago, but just recently started going with the kids this summer when I realized that my 5 yo dd had no idea who/what God is.

So now they're going to Sunday school and it's going really well. Dh is in charge of teaching them about the Jewish "side" so of course, he is trying to outsource it to his mother. The family gets together for the major holidays, so I imagine that is all the girls will ever really know. We do have a menorah, although I may be able to do the prayers better than dh (now that I've read the whole thread), lol.

I remember having a conversation with my mil about our decision regarding religion when I was pg w/ #1. She was actually happy to hear that we had decided to raise them in at least one of our faiths.

[Happy 2B mommy]

Deb,

I am a product of an interfaith couple and was raised with 'no religion' (my parents were athesists). My mother raised me to be ethical, moral, questioning and compassionate while giving me a good overview of both Jewish and Christain religions. Christmas was celebrated in our house more as a secular/cultural thing without any religious overtones. However, not having a religious community was hard on me --partly because I was raised in a small, nearly completely Christain town where church/religious affilation was very important and there was no interfaith community. I often felt very alone and like an outsider. It also didn't help that all of my father's family was in Europe and my mother's one brother was much older and they didn't get along, so we seldom celebrated holidays with any other family. While I think I got a much better education in living a moral and ethical life than many of my peers did at Sunday school, I really wanted to be part of a larger religious community.

Dh was raised very Catholic, although he became disillusioned/angry with the Church while we were dating (won't go into all that). When we decided to marry we postponed our wedding by a year until we could find a religous home where we were both happy. We talked about doing a "his and hers" type of thing, but we wanted our children to be part of something that we all were a part of. We were married by a Unitarian Universalist minister and are very active in that church, although we have to drive nearly 40 miles to attend it. DD was dedicated in it and had a naming ceremony. We love our church, not only for the teachings and inspiration we find there, but also for the enriching, supportive and loving community that has embraced us.

I have to say, being part of a UU church has taught more about the religious traditions of my parents than they were able to. DH and I attend Christmas Eve service and Seders, we celebrate Easter Sunday and the high holy days through the UU church. Our particular UU church has a very high number of Catholic/Jewish couples, so the church reflects that. Our UU minister practices Buddism so there is also a lot of instruction in that practice/faith as well. UU churches can vary a lot, depending on the congregation and the religious viewpoint of the minister.

It sounds like you don't have a lot of interfaith resources (Fairy is soooo lucky) so I would encourage you to at least look into a UU church.

[traciann]

I am not interfaith, but I feel that its very important that children of interfaith marriages be raised in at least one faith. I think they need to have a foundation, so when they are older they can at least have the knowledge in one area to say this is for me, or this is not for me and choose something different.

[M&Mmom]

Happy 2B Mommy- Thanks so much! That is an interesting church. I haven't looked into that. I will see if there is anything like that here. My problem would be if it didn't have as much interfaith acceptance/teachings as yours apparently does.

ha98ed14 - I too feel that Judaism is very cultural and that is a large part of why I want them to have that education. But at the same time, DH feels it is important to him to teach them Catholicism. We both respect and honor each others wishes and would never ask the other to give up their religion/culture. So we have come to the decision to do both as much as possible. We are now at the point where we need to decide how thorough to be and start introducing DD to religion.

Thanks everyone for their replies and experiences! Keep them coming!