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Husband = Christian, Me = Jewish
Any advice about the age old question - how do we choose one? Neither of us are very involved religiously, but we've both been raised by different morals that are strongly based on our religion. Neither of us regularly attend services, but we would like to raise our little guy with a faith. I raised my daughter with my first husband according our religion, but my husband now is Christain. Of course, we each would like to see him grow up the way we did. Is there any easy way to handle this situation? Has anyone experienced the same situation? How did you handle it?
Thanks! Any and all advice is very welcome!
I'm Jewish, and my hubby's Christian. When I was growing up, my dad was Jewish and my mom was moving from lapsed Catholicism to Judaism. We were exposed to both, celebrated all the holidays, and my brother and I both chose Judaism. Now, hubby and I are doing the same thing. We're not very observant, but we want our daughter to be informed so she can choose well.
Like AnnieandJake'sMom, we plan to "join a temple (extremely Reform with lots of non-Jewish members) and send our kids to religious school there. Mostly because we wanted to expose them to Hebrew and learn the prayers. But it is entirely their decisions if they choose to have a Bat Mitzvah/Bar Mitzvah when they turn 13." We figured, if she decided to be Christian, at least she'd already have a religous grounding.
I think this works because, aside from some slight religious differences, my DH and I do have the same morals. We also discussed it before we got married, to make sure it wouldn't be an issue. It will be interesting to see what happens, since all the Jewish stuff we do is basically services as home (Hanukkah and Passover), so she gets to see some of the religious stuff along with the fun stuff, but the Christian part is all the commercialistic stuff (Xmas tree and Easter eggs).
GnuMom | April 10, 2009 | reply
We have the same situation, except my husband is the one who is Jewish. Neither of us are observant at all. We've always raised our kids with the understanding that people believe different things, and when they are old enough, they can decide what it is that they believe.
As far as our own family, we celebrate both Christian and Jewish holidays. We did make the decision to join a temple (extremely Reform with lots of non-Jewish members) and send our kids to religious school there. Mostly because we wanted to expose them to Hebrew and learn the prayers. But it is entirely their decisions if they choose to have a Bat Mitzvah/Bar Mitzvah when they turn 13.
Good luck. I don't think there is a "right" answer. Just what works for your family..
annieandjakesmom | August 21, 2008 | reply
Kaylie | August 20, 2008 | reply
