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Reply to "Raising a Jewish kid with one Jewish/one atheist parent"
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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Has anyone done this, and if so, what did it look like? I (the DW) am an agnostic Jew, not a big religion person but strong connection to Israel and grew up going to Jewish camps and school. DH was raised Catholic and is now atheist with no connection to Christianity. He is fine with having a Jewish child but is not interested in converting, which is completely fine with me. What are things I can do to raise a child with a strong connection to Judaism without forcing DH to be something he is not? Some ideas: -Teach Hebrew at a young age (DH learned Hebrew so he could participate in this as well) -Shabbat dinner - we have done this quite a bit with my family anyway and some wine and challah are not objectionable to anyone! -Trips to Israel (DH has been several times with me already) -Jewish summer camp - will they take kids who don't go to synagogue? I feel like that's not "enough" but don't want this to be onerous and also want to respect DH's choice to not participate in all of these things that he never asked to be involved in.[/quote] I am in your exact situation with school-age kids and I would start with sending your kid to a Jewish preschool. But then, honestly, I would join a Reform synagogue and send your kids to Hebrew school. You'll have lots of company, many secular Jews are agnostic and not particularly religious but join synagogues for the community and culture. And probably close to half the kids at ours have one non-Jewish parent. It's not like when we were kids, the reform synagogue I go to is very welcoming of non-Jewish partners/spouses and makes a big effort to make them feel included and appreciated whether they decide to convert or not. All of your ideas are good, but I think that if you really want your kids to have a strong connection to Judaism then giving them a chance to be part of a welcoming Jewish community is the best way to do it.[/quote]
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