Our Mailbox

(An old post never published)

I can't tell you how many times I've opened our mailbox and wondered what the mailman must be thinking. At one point, we had the Catholic Standard and Times and the Jewish Exponent arrive on the same day! Then there were other days when we'd have the envelopes from the Church arrive on the same day that the Synagogue bulletin showed up. Even our mailbox is a testament to our interfaith family.

I wonder what others think, but I don't worry about it. In my work with Jewish educators, I am always clear that I am the non-Jewish half of an interfaith family. At first, I thought they would be shocked. However, I'm more shocked than they are. As Jews, they are surrounded by interfaith families on a regular basis. However, how often is it that they are met with someone in a leadership role who is part of an interfaith family?

If we sat down to coffee, would they question the fact that my kitchen table has a "Christmas-y" table cloth? Or when Easter Sunday falls during Passover, would they be surprised that I gladly accept the Easter bread that my neighbor stops by to deliver? Of course, it gets put away until after Passover, but I'm not sure that I won't have a piece.

 

My focus is on innovative education. How innovative is it that a former Catholic school teacher is spending her time focusing on how to build a strong Jewish identity in children? I guess my values haven't changed all that much, since we decided to raise our children Jewish. I felt it was important for them to identify with a religion -- to understand the jokes, the conversations, the stories.