Family Archives

How to Navigate Different Sets of Rules with Parents and Grandparents

Kids love consistency; they rely on it and thrive with it. So what happens...

Extended Family, Family, Grandparent Advice, Grandparents, Parenting, Parenting Adult Children, Parenting Tips and Advice

Planning a Virtual Baby Naming: An Expanded Guest List and Too Much Zabar’s

By Sarah Rizzo

It’s funny looking back on my third pregnancy and thinking about the confidence my husband and I had...

Babies, Baby Naming, Extended Family, Family

How to React When Your People’s People are Targeted

By Lauren Schreiber Sasaki

“I know you’re not a Facebook person, but I think I need you to say something,” I said to my husband the day...

Anti Semitism, Extended Family, Family, Identity, Marriage

Converting to Judaism and Telling My Catholic Family

By Joe Grasso

Things seemed to be working out great for my wife and me as an interfaith family:...

Conversion, Family, Identity, Parenting, Relationships, Religion

How Hanukkah, Christmas and a New Baby Inspired My Children’s Book

By Lauren Muskovitz Ranalli

Lauren with her family As a young couple, my husband and I sailed through our early holiday seasons together....

Family, Hanukkah, Hanukkah & Christmas, Newlywed, Parenting Hanukkah

Why These 5 Myths about Interfaith Families are Limiting Our Community

By Rabbi Evan Moffic

There’s a saying attributed to the French philosopher La Rochefoucauld. “The more things change, the more...

Family, Love and Marriage, Officiation, Religion, Synagogue

Mom and Dad: We’re in Love and We’re Not Teenagers

By Elizabeth Vocke

Elizabeth’s parents on her wedding day There’s a memory that stands out. I’m standing in the kitchen of...

Family, Love, Marriage, Relationships

Why I Reject Chrismukkah

By Alicia Chandler

Back in 2003, I thought it was amazing when Seth Cohen from The O.C. first taught the world about the magic...

Family, Hanukkah, Hanukkah & Christmas, Hanukkah Rituals, Parenting Hanukkah

My First Christmas as a Jew (to be)

By Kristin Eriko Posner

A new “Christmas” tradition for Kristin and her husband. Christmas in the Namimoto household lasted...

Family, Hanukkah, Hanukkah & Christmas, Marriage

Jews Like Me

By Aimee Ellis

At Jewish summer camp (Camp Tawonga, to be specific), I felt a little different than the other campers. I wasn’t...

Camp, Family, Growing Up Interfaith, Identity, Religion

Marrying Off a Daughter as a Values Clarification Exercise

By Dr. Ruth Nemzoff

Marrying off a daughter is a values clarification exercise. While the wedding ceremony ostensibly serves to...

Extended Family, Family, Parenting Adult Children, Weddings

How Do We Talk About Hate as a Family?

By Elizabeth Vocke

A couple of weeks ago, as we were going to sleep, my husband said, “I’m sorry there are people out there who...

Family, Parenting, Spirituality

Finding Co-Officiants: A Multi-Step Process

By Laura Drescher

Our first hurdle in planning an interfaith wedding (other than the insanity of touring and booking a venue)...

Culture, Family, Identity, Race, Religion

Mom: What is Your Religion?

By Rabbi Jillian Cameron

Being from an interfaith family has influenced my life in myriad ways, most especially in my choice to focus...

Family, Growing Up Interfaith, Identity, Parenting, Religion

Why We Say Yes to the Easter Invite

By Sarah Rizzo

The phone rang and I heard my dad’s apprehensive voice. “Hi Sarah. I have a bit of a strange question for you....

Easter, Extended Family, Family, In-laws, Parenting, Parenting Passover, Passover

Gratitude, Love and Life

By Anna Keller

Helen Rose “No Limits” Being stuck in a car for three hours with my mother, Adrian (my significant...

Extended Family, Family, Parenting Stories

What I Learned From My Son’s Hindu-Jewish Relationship

By Stephen Fisher

This is the story of how a Jewish couple added to and became part of our changing America. But more important,...

Family, Hindu Jewish Wedding, Love, Parenting Stories, Relationships

Take the Fifth: How a Woman in an Interfaith Marriage Honors Her Parents

By Joy Fields

We are commanded to honor our parents. The fifth commandment can present a few challenges, however, like when...

Extended Family, Family, Food, In-laws, Marriage

Many Paths Up the Mountain

By Stacie Garnett-Cook

In college, I was a Jewish representative on the student Multi-Faith Council. I have always been fascinated...

Family, Marriage, Religion, Spirituality

Mindful Parenting: Raising a Child with Judaism in Your Interfaith Family

By Rabbi Robyn Frisch

Over the years I’ve enjoyed—and benefited greatly from—the practice of mindfulness meditation. Studying and...

Family, Parenting, Parenting Tips and Advice

Why I Officiated My Grandfather’s Funeral (Even Though I’m Not a Rabbi)

By Jared David Berezin

Sometimes it’s nice to have others make minor decisions for me. I’m happy when my wife decides what we’re...

Death & Mourning, Death & Mourning Stories, Family, Funeral, Grandparents, Jewish Mourning Rituals

The Honeymoon is Over … and That's Not a Bad Thing

By Emily Golomb

The wedding was over a month ago, and we had a fantastic honeymoon in the Galapagos Islands and mainland Ecuador....

Family, Marriage, Newlywed, Reception, Wedding Ceremony, Wedding Recap, Wedding Ritual, Weddings

Dear Mom, Thank You For…

By Rabbi Jillian Cameron

Dear Mom, I know this will embarrass you (and definitely make you cry) because that’s who you are, but in the...

Family, Identity

The Day My Mom Told Me to Choose Love

By Jessie Boatright

Mom dancing at my brother’s wedding My parents and extended family have always supported my own interfaith...

Family, Love and Marriage, Marriage

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