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Geography can be an impediment, but it is not an impossible obstacle. I think that you can still do some good. It seems that you have already figured out the right path. The internet can be a powerful tool. As the children get older may be you can have longer conversations and if their mother is OK with it send them videos and articles about Judaism and Israel. I think that there are probably online Jewish courses and games as well. What do you think?
There also some Jewish Organizations that young people can join. May be you can look into whether there are chapters in their area. This would probably be for when they are older.
May be when you visit each other it would also be an opportunity to discuss and do Jewish things?
Last edited by Maccabee36; 02-03-2019 at 05:02 PM..
Geography can be an impediment, but it is not an impossible obstacle. I think that you can still do some good. It seems that you have already figured out the right path. The internet can be a powerful tool. As the children get older may be you can have longer conversations and if their mother is OK with it send them videos and articles about Judaism and Israel. I think that there are probably online Jewish courses and games as well. What do you think?
There also some Jewish Organizations that young people can join. May be you can look into whether there are chapters in their area. This would probably be for when they are older.
May be when you visit each other it would also be an opportunity to discuss and do Jewish things?
Their mother/my sister and I have very little contact (so the last visit was a few years back). I already know that the boy wasn't all the interested in having a Bar Mitzva but his grandfather/my father made sure that it happened with that trip to Israel for the boy's Bar Mitzva. In any case, it is their mother's (my sister's) job to connect them to their Jewish heritage as I can only suppliment with sharing occasionally articles or videos via the messenger app that they use (as perhaps I get to talk them once or twice a year when they call to thank me for a Chanukah or birthday gift).
On the other hand, my brother's children (whose mother is actually Israeli) go to a Chabad Hebrew School. The 2 girls have had Bat-Mitvas and Hebrew was their first language. Also I am sure my brother's son will have a Bar Mitva when he is old enough. On the other hand being that my sister-in-law's parents were from Romania, there is no kashrut observed in my brother's home (whereas my sister with the goy husband keeps basic kosher rules in her home!). So hard to say which situation is better for preserving Jewish tradition when all of these children become adults and leave home.
Chava, that’s a good question - which one is more likely to preserve their Judaism. Seems like each home has some level of cognitive dissonance. If I had to guess, I’d say the kids eating kosher wins out over a stam reform upbringing. But only Hashem knows.
This really is not a thread about politics. Instead of discussing Birthright from a political standpoint, let’s discuss it from an intermarriage perspective. According to this article Birthright is having a positive effect:
I don’t think one program solves the issue though, the intermarriage rate of participants is still too high and may increase as more children of intermarriage participate in the future. This more recent article article has the intermarriage rate of all participants at 38% and at 67% for participants with one Jewish parent:
Has anybody out there gone on Birthright? If so do you think it has had a positive effect on your Jewish identity? Are you less likely to intermarry because of it? Should there be more Jewish education on the trip and afterwards? How do you think it has affected others on the trip?
What about others who have not been on the trip. What is your perception of it?
Last edited by Maccabee36; 02-04-2019 at 06:44 PM..
How would that help? The object of this is to disuade intermarriage not encourage it. A marriage between a Jew and a non-Jew in Judaism is not considered to be a valid marriage. A lot of Jews, including my self would not attend a so called intermarriage ceremony because we do not believe that G-d would approve.
I think all you can do is expose them to the culture ( and keep the culture central in their daily lives). Religious observance can vary wildly but those Jewish communities that keep rather traditional culture around the family like my family did tend to raise children that do the same and are less likely to intermarry.
I think all you can do is expose them to the culture ( and keep the culture central in their daily lives). Religious observance can vary wildly but those Jewish communities that keep rather traditional culture around the family like my family did tend to raise children that do the same and are less likely to intermarry.
Your solution could potentially save a handful of Jews. Certainly better than pretending you’re a goy and acting like the nations.
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