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Wedding Season is Coming. Let InterfaithFamily Help You Plan
This article has been reprinted with permission from InterfaithFamily
Wedding Email Series
If you and your partner are from two different faith backgrounds and planning a Jewish or Jewish and... wedding ceremony, there’s a lot to consider. From who will officiate to which Jewish rituals you will include to how to handle family dynamics, our rabbis have heard all the questions and helped many couples design the wedding of their dreams. We’re taking all our expertise and dishing it out in eight emails designed to offer ideas and options, answer common questions and connect you to a wealth of additional resources (and other couples!) so you can plan a ceremony that’s right for you. The first email will arrive on June 4.
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THE CHALLENGE OF PLANNING AN INTERFAITH WEDDING
By Stephie Grob Plante for Tablet Magazine
A ceremony that honored both Judaism and Catholicism without offending our parents proved elusive—until an uncle saved the day
When I got engaged four years ago, some of my relatives asked if my fiancé Chris was planning to convert. The answer was no: I was Jewish, he was Catholic, and none of that would change once we were married. Being an interfaith couple wasn’t something we worried about much. Our thinking, we recognize now, was matter of fact and fairly superficial. At 24 and 25 years old, we’d been together for five years already and lived together since senior year of college. Religion never posed an issue before—why should it now?
We were young. We had much to learn.
Children of intermarriage explore identity challenges
By Patricia Corrigan for Jweekly.com
For young adults born into interfaith families, defining their Jewish identity is complex and finding acceptance often is difficult. The burden is even heavier for mixed-race individuals.
Take Victoria Alara Alcoset, 47, born to an Ashkenazi Jewish mother and a Catholic father with Native American and Mexican-American roots. Brought up Catholic, Alcoset said she “gravitated toward Jewish religious practice in young adulthood.” But when she planned her adult bat mitzvah, a rabbi suggested she first convert.
Keep the Peace in a 2-Religion Home
by LEAH ROCKETTO for PopSugar
As I child, I spent my Sundays sitting in a pew with my mother and learning about various verses from the Bible. I also spent several nights of the year lighting yahrzeit candles and reciting Hebrew prayers alongside my father. Yes, I was one of many children, though not in my town, who was raised in a two-religion home. Yet despite what my friends said, I was not half-Catholic, half-Jewish (or cashew, as they lovingly called me). I was, in fact a full-fledged Catholic.
On "keeping the Pesach," and gradations of practice
From The Velveteen Rabbi
Pesach begins in 4 days, and maybe some of you are considering "keeping the Pesach" this year. Maybe you have some anxiety about what exactly that means, or how to do it, or whether you're going to "do it wrong." What is keeping the Pesach?
Want more information on Passover? Check out Jvillage Network's Passover Guide.