I grew up in upstate NY in a rural community – if I had Jewish classmates, I wasn’t aware of it. My mother reminded me that our neighbors across the street were an interfaith family. They had children a few years older than me so I never had much in common except a few kick-the-can games. I grew up going to church and served as an acolyte for a few years. I couldn’t help but feel closer to God when assisting the priest with the service. However, as many college kids, I never went to church much after high school, except at Christmas time. It just didn't seem important. But as an adult I realized that giving a child a religious foundation is important – it gives them something to draw upon in goof and bad times and exposes them to a whole cannon of literature and a cultural foundation. If my child walks away from religion in at a point in his life, that is his choice, but it has become important to provide him with a religious foundation as he grows up.
In college religion never really came up in conversation except between my Catholic roommate and I, and then I was just amazed at her recall in history classes when it came to memorizing a list of the Catholic popes. I knew there were Jewish students on campus (I saw the signs for Hillel House) but it wasn’t until I worked and lived at a boarding school that I made Jewish friends. That is where I attended my first Passover meal and learned about Hanukkah, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur through All-School Assemblies.
As my son's non-Jewish grandmother says, “If he is going to be a Jew, I want him to be a good one!” So do I…even if I cannot yet quite define for myself what that means. As I take my journey to Judaism on the road, I will be accompanied by my toddler son both learning and growing together.
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