Would you send your non-jewish child to a jewish school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Omg, some of these responses are ridiculous! We are an African-American Christian family, and we sent our son to a lovely Jewish preschool for 3 years. The fact that we were not Jewish did not affect him (or us) at all. We loved that he was exposed to a different religion and we attended Shabbat whenever possible. Being part of the community enriched our lives in many ways regardless of the fact that we were in the minority on many levels. I'll never understand the close-mindedness of some people on DCUM. To those who are discouraging the OP, open your minds a little. You might meet some great people while learning some valuable lessons in the process

+1
we sent our child to a jewish pre-school and we are Catholic. Everyone was wonderful, sweet, and welcoming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Omg, some of these responses are ridiculous! We are an African-American Christian family, and we sent our son to a lovely Jewish preschool for 3 years. The fact that we were not Jewish did not affect him (or us) at all. We loved that he was exposed to a different religion and we attended Shabbat whenever possible. Being part of the community enriched our lives in many ways regardless of the fact that we were in the minority on many levels. I'll never understand the close-mindedness of some people on DCUM. To those who are discouraging the OP, open your minds a little. You might meet some great people while learning some valuable lessons in the process

+1
we sent our child to a jewish pre-school and we are Catholic. Everyone was wonderful, sweet, and welcoming.

Yes, jewish people are very open to including everyone. However, they are sending their children there to learn the jewish culture with other jewish kids. Yes the jewish people will not be openly hostile to you, but the ones that attend a jewish preschool want their kids to learn jewish culture with other jewish families. Otherwise they would send their kids to regular (non religion specific) preschool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Omg, some of these responses are ridiculous! We are an African-American Christian family, and we sent our son to a lovely Jewish preschool for 3 years. The fact that we were not Jewish did not affect him (or us) at all. We loved that he was exposed to a different religion and we attended Shabbat whenever possible. Being part of the community enriched our lives in many ways regardless of the fact that we were in the minority on many levels. I'll never understand the close-mindedness of some people on DCUM. To those who are discouraging the OP, open your minds a little. You might meet some great people while learning some valuable lessons in the process

+1
we sent our child to a jewish pre-school and we are Catholic. Everyone was wonderful, sweet, and welcoming.

Yes, jewish people are very open to including everyone. However, they are sending their children there to learn the jewish culture with other jewish kids. Yes the jewish people will not be openly hostile to you, but the ones that attend a jewish preschool want their kids to learn jewish culture with other jewish families. Otherwise they would send their kids to regular (non religion specific) preschool.

My Jewish DSL went to a Jewish preschool because we wanted him to have a Jewish-based early education, but I couldn't have cared less whether the other students in his class were Jewish. Most of the families we were friends with had one Jewish parent and one non-Jewish parent (like us!) but one or two weren't Jewish on either side. Our family liked the diversity.

[Anonymous]

It's fine for preschool.

Unlike Catholic schools in the area, most Jewish schools have a very intensive curriculum relating to Religion, Jewish History, Hebrew, etc. Often school days are longer or there is an increased workload to accommodate. I wouldn't sent my kid there simply because that isn't where we want to invest extra time. Catholic schools usually only have 1-2 religion classes and a few religious events. That's different.

[Anonymous]

What do you call the grandchildren of an interfaith marriage? Christian.

This old jewish joke has a lot of truth. Most of my friends whose parents had one parent Christian and one parent Jewish, have since married Christian spouses and are now raising their children as Christian. The Jewish religion is welcoming to all, but the number of non-orthodox families with both parents being Jewish continues to decline. Yes, marry who you love, but don't question later what happened to the shrinking number of jewish children. That is why it is important for jewish parents to send their children to jewish preschools to learn jewish culture and become friends with other jewish children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Omg, some of these responses are ridiculous! We are an African-American Christian family, and we sent our son to a lovely Jewish preschool for 3 years. The fact that we were not Jewish did not affect him (or us) at all. We loved that he was exposed to a different religion and we attended Shabbat whenever possible. Being part of the community enriched our lives in many ways regardless of the fact that we were in the minority on many levels. I'll never understand the close-mindedness of some people on DCUM. To those who are discouraging the OP, open your minds a little. You might meet some great people while learning some valuable lessons in the process

+1
we sent our child to a jewish pre-school and we are Catholic. Everyone was wonderful, sweet, and welcoming.

Yes, jewish people are very open to including everyone. However, they are sending their children there to learn the jewish culture with other jewish kids. Yes the jewish people will not be openly hostile to you, but the ones that attend a jewish preschool want their kids to learn jewish culture with other jewish families. Otherwise they would send their kids to regular (non religion specific) preschool.

I don't think anyone in this thread (including myself, I'm one of the posters whose kids go to Rodef Shalom) expects their Jewish preschool to adapt the curriculum for the comfort of non-Jewish students. I'm perfectly happy to have my children learn about Judaism alongside Jewish children, and no one at TRSNS has ever given me the slightest suggestion they wish there weren't non-Jews at the school.

[Anonymous]

My DC attended a jewish preschool. Over half the kids went on to a jewish day school. These people are paying private school tuition (25k estimate) per kid per year to attend a school with almost 99 percent jewish. Do you really think they are actively encouraging non jewish kids to attend? Yes, they will be nice to you, but don't kid yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do you call the grandchildren of an interfaith marriage? Christian.

This old jewish joke has a lot of truth. Most of my friends whose parents had one parent Christian and one parent Jewish, have since married Christian spouses and are now raising their children as Christian. The Jewish religion is welcoming to all, but the number of non-orthodox families with both parents being Jewish continues to decline. Yes, marry who you love, but don't question later what happened to the shrinking number of jewish children. That is why it is important for jewish parents to send their children to jewish preschools to learn jewish culture and become friends with other jewish children.

PP here with a non-Jewish DH. Your experience is different from mine, and an anecdote isn't proof. Never said DH is Christian either! He's an atheist who's very open to Jewish culture. But we're raising DS Jewish. He identifies as a Jew, as do most of my friends from childhood who had one Jewish parent.

Thread successfully derailed.

[Anonymous]

I think there's real confusion here about the fact that there are some Jewish preschools that are very focused on religious teaching, while there are others that are not. It's the same way with Christian schools.

In both cases, there are some schools that focus a lot on religion and are basically for members of the temple/church. There are others that are attended by many families who do not belong to that temple/church and may not belong to any other one either. These schools are much more secular. While they may teach about certain religious stories and traditions, they aren't focused on religion as the primary focus.

Also, I think it's unfair to say that families send their kids to a Jewish school to learn about Jewish culture with other Jewish kids. They definitely send their kids there to learn about Jewish culture and be in a place that is accepting of their culture and traditions. But I'm not sure you can take the leap to say all or even most people prefer that all the other kids in the class be Jewish -- just that those kids also want to learn about Jewish traditions and be in a place that values them.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, someone poo-poo'd the holiday closings issue, but for a working parent it is a huge pain in the neck. There are many extra days for which you have to find coverage in Temple-based preschools for Jewish Holidays. Then, the preschools are ALSO closed for the traditional holiday periods because non-Jewish staff want off at those times. Unless you are thinking of a JCC preschool, where they make a huge effort to have coverage by non-observant staff for those days, you must plan well for the extra holiday closures if you are a working parent.

[Anonymous]

Jews don't pressure you to convert and their schools tend to have excellent academics. Yes, I would definitely consider it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Omg, some of these responses are ridiculous! We are an African-American Christian family, and we sent our son to a lovely Jewish preschool for 3 years. The fact that we were not Jewish did not affect him (or us) at all. We loved that he was exposed to a different religion and we attended Shabbat whenever possible. Being part of the community enriched our lives in many ways regardless of the fact that we were in the minority on many levels. I'll never understand the close-mindedness of some people on DCUM. To those who are discouraging the OP, open your minds a little. You might meet some great people while learning some valuable lessons in the process

+1
we sent our child to a jewish pre-school and we are Catholic. Everyone was wonderful, sweet, and welcoming.

I can't believe there's this much discussion about this. I suspect there's not a little undercurrent of anti-Semitism, which is appalling.

We're a Christian family (Presbyterian/Episcopal) and sent one of our children to a Jewish preschool. It was fine, and I was glad for the exposure to a different religious tradition. That said, I was a SAHM, so we did not have to worry about coordinating work schedules with Jewish holidays. That would be my only consideration if I were working, but it certainly wouldn't be an insurmountable one if I truly liked the school and its philosophy as OP has said.

OP, why are you so nervous about being the only non-Jewish family? I think you need to figure out what's making you nervous and deal with that explicitly.

[Anonymous]

Our child attends a Jewish prschool and we are not Jewish. We have been over the moon thrilled with the experience.

[Anonymous]

The Jewish pre-school in my immediate area has a wonderful reputation. We chose another daycare because we were unable to secure an appointment to interview with the JCC school before our son was born. We were beyond happy with the daycare we got into. However, due to COVID and our daycares unwillingness to reopen, we were forced to look at other options. We got an appt with the JCC and felt that we were welcomed with open arms (btw, we are lesbian parents AND Episcopalian). Our child has been very happy.
There are adjustments. We’ve been learning, esp in regard to foods and holidays. It’s an incredible opportunity to immerse our child in another culture. The history of the Old Testament is important to us as Christians. The religious aspect is not problematic to us. This is where I’m really proud that we were open to sending our child to a Jewish school...anyone with eyes and ears should be keenly aware of the rise of antisemitism, world wide. Our child is to make room for people of all cultures and beliefs...as we expect people to be respectful of our family. I feel that my child going to a Jewish Daycare is a way to ensure respect for the Jewish culture and religion. In turn, I hope it will be a building block for him to accept that there are all kinds of different people and cultures, and they are kind and important, just like his Jewish friends, his Muslim friends, his friends of color...we can all learn from each other, in spite of and because of our differences.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely! We are a Hindu family who send our kids to a Catholic preschool (I went to one when I was a child, too!), and know some non-Jewish families who send their children to Temple Rodef Shalom in Arlington and just love it.