Rosh HaShanah (New Year) Gathering!

[Paula]

My husband is Jewish and we're raising the kids as Jews, so I've learned quite a lot about Jewish traditions (I'm still Christian). It is a beautiful religion and the symbolism is quite powerful. The first days of the Jewish Holiday seem pretty much like a celebration of the harvest. I love the phrase "days of awe." The biggest day seems to be Yom Kippur which is very serious -- as said earlier on this thread, fasting, atoning for one's sins from the previous year, and then being forgiven and starting off the new year with a clean slate. One thing I like about the Jewish religion is that the assumption is God can give you a clean slate for the most part for the new year, but if you've harmed someone else, only that person can really forgive you.

The girls enjoy being Jewish and they also enjoy having the Christian traditions with my family. They feel quite lucky!

For very traditional Jews, the mother would have to be Jewish or would have to convert for the children to be considered Jewish. But we're part of the "reformed" Jewish movement. In fact, our congregation shares their building with a Christian church. Honestly, the front of the building becomes an ark (similar to the Christian altar) on Friday nights and Saturdays, and then it rotates and becomes an altar on Sundays! Pretty clever I'd say! There's a Jewish star of David and a cross together at the entrance. Here's our daughter's Bat Mitzvah photo. What a great day it was.

 

[shakennotstirred]

can anyone recommend other books?

I am currently reading "All But My Life" a memoir by Gerda Weissman Klein. She writes about her familiy's wartime experiences. She was a prisoner of the Nazis from the age of 18 and survived a 300 mile march from a labor camp in Poland to Czechoslovakia. The HBO documentary "One Survivor Remembers" is based on the book. It is a very moving (& disturbing) story.

 

[goofer]

A 21st Century inspirational story and rememberance of the Holocaust was another HBO (?) documentary called "Paper Clips". Very moving and gives hope that young people will be tolerant and understanding of basic human rights and accept the acknowledgement that we are all different yet strangely the same. After all, it will be their world. I highly recommend it.

 

[Paula]

Paper Clips is a wonderful movie to show to kids who are in middle school or older.

I think it was Cil who recommended A Thread of Grace to me through this message board. It was a stunning book and I am still stunned when I think of it. An amazing historical novel. Glad you appreciated it, Tootsie.

 

[Mango]

My husband is Jewish and we're raising the kids as Jews, so I've learned quite a lot about Jewish traditions (I'm still Christian). It is a beautiful religion and the symbolism is quite powerful. The first days of the Jewish Holiday seem pretty much like a celebration of the harvest. I love the phrase "days of awe." The biggest day seems to be Yom Kippur which is very serious -- as said earlier on this thread, fasting, atoning for one's sins from the previous year, and then being forgiven and starting off the new year with a clean slate. One thing I like about the Jewish religion is that the assumption is God can give you a clean slate for the most part for the new year, but if you've harmed someone else, only that person can really forgive you.

The girls enjoy being Jewish and they also enjoy having the Christian traditions with my family. They feel quite lucky!

For very traditional Jews, the mother would have to be Jewish or would have to convert for the children to be considered Jewish. But we're part of the "reformed" Jewish movement. In fact, our congregation shares their building with a Christian church. Honestly, the front of the building becomes an ark (similar to the Christian altar) on Friday nights and Saturdays, and then it rotates and becomes an altar on Sundays! Pretty clever I'd say! There's a Jewish star of David and a cross together at the entrance. Here's our daughter's Bat Mitzvah photo. What a great day it was.

That sounds quite beautiful having the 2 faiths sharing one building and how innovative in it's construction. I would love to see a picture of that.:clap_1:

 

[Teresa]

Paper Clips is a wonderful movie to show to kids who are in middle school or older.

I think it was Cil who recommended A Thread of Grace to me through this message board. It was a stunning book and I am still stunned when I think of it. An amazing historical novel. Glad you appreciated it, Tootsie.

I passed it on to Allifunn...

 

[Paula]

Tootsie:

I went online to see the website for the Temple/Church and I didn't see any photos, but here's what the site said about the joint building ownership and commitment to respecting both faiths:

"Genesis, founded in 1976, manages the building co-owned by Temple Beth Emeth and St. Clare of Assisi Episcopal Church. Members of both congregations comprise the Genesis board. Each congregation maintains its own identity as a religious group; however several times a year there are joint celebrations such as an Erev Thanksgiving Service and joint Adult Choir concerts. This joint arrangement of over thirty years demonstrates that people of two different faiths can live and work together in harmony.

The concept of Genesis exemplifies our belief that people of different faiths can share, understand each other, and draw mutual strength from the relationship."

Rosemary Beach's invitation seems to take the perspective which is wonderful. It would be great if SoWal had a reputation for openly seeking out connections among different religions for mutually learning, celebrating, and peace. Seems like the seed has been sown! I hope the Rosemary Beach invitation gets many SoWallers to the New Year celebration.

And, Tootsie, that book is going to travel quite the distance hand-to-hand!

 

[Cil]

I think it was Cil who recommended A Thread of Grace to me through this message board. It was a stunning book and I am still stunned when I think of it. An amazing historical novel. Glad you appreciated it, Tootsie.

Yes, 'twas I.
I much preferred A Thread Of Grace to The Red Tent.

Paula, my situation exactly mirrors yours, except we had boys instead of girls.
Love the Bat Mitzvah picture. I am glad we made it through our boys' ceremonies in one piece; I certainly did not grow up learning how to plan a bar mitzvah.

Where we now live, the assumption of religious homogeneity can sometimes make for awkward situations, especially for our son--but I like to look at it as a character-building experience. ;-)

 

[Paula]

Hi Cil:

I think you also recommended Bel Canto -- I loved it (and read it during summer vacation in Italy in the mornings on the terrace of my favorite coffee shop -- perfect spot to read such a book).

Yup, there are lots of mixed-faith families. Our girls love their mixed religious identity. They're very Jewish-identified and are very comfortable that I'm not Jewish. We live in an academic town and there's lots of diversity of all kinds arounder here so they fit in anywhere around here. We have our reformed temple, a conservative temple, an orthodox temple, several churches, a mosque, and a buddhist temple all within a few miles of us, several within walking distance. Pretty cool...

We have another Bat Mitzvah to plan this year... I never had experience planning one before our first child's either (I had only been to one in my lifetime before that). It sure was a lot of work, but we were also so proud. This second one seems to be easier so far. We're pretty much doing what we did the last time, so far without as much anxiety (but it's still a while away).