Facing the challenges of interfaith parenting

Rabbi Sherre Hirsch, Rabbi & Relationship Expert, shares advice for parents of different faiths on how to best agree on the belief to raise your child by
Interfaith Parenting Advice - The Challenges Of Interfaith Parenting
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Facing the challenges of interfaith parenting

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Couples come to me all the time. One’s Jewish, one’s not Jewish and the Jewish one expects me to say, “Rah, rah, Judaism, you must convert.” And I never say that. The first thing I say to them is they have to go and meet with the partner’s clergy or teacher of their religion. And the Jewish person looks at me like I’ve really undermined their whole effort to get them to convert. But here is what I believe – you can’t give your children everything. I heard these crazy parents, one father gave his son one thing and the mother gave the daughter another. You can’t give your children that. You have to give them one set of beliefs. It’s the reason you don’t give your children full reign to eat as much dessert as they want whenever they want. You’re there to guide them. They can’t choose. And when I hear parents say all the time, “I’m just going to let them choose themselves when they’re older.” What are they going to choose if you’ve given them nothing? Decide early on – pick one. Guide your child in those values. Teach them those values. And it’s hard, because it means that one of you is not going to get picked. But later in life, you’ve given them something really of meaning and of value and of importance. And then they can choose.

Rabbi Sherre Hirsch, Rabbi & Relationship Expert, shares advice for parents of different faiths on how to best agree on the belief to raise your child by

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Rabbi Sherre Hirsch

Rabbi & Relationship Expert

Rabbi Sherre Hirsch is a mother of four, author, speaker, TV personality, teacher and the spiritual life consultant for Canyon Ranch.  After eight years at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, she stepped out from behind the formal podium to share her message in all kinds of pulpits from The Today Show to a small baptist church in Alabama.  She published her first book, We Plan, God Laughs: What to Do When Life Hits You Over the Head in 2008; her second book will be published in early 2013. Rabbi Hirsch spends her free time practicing yoga, baking brownies and playing freeze dance with her husband and children.

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