Starting the Chavarah - Interfaith Traditions

This will be the Chavarah section of TraditionsRenewed.com once I get it set up.

An on line community to talk about Jewish traditions, interfaith issues, products for Jewish traditions, fundraising for Jewish and humanitarian causes, and any other related issues.

I hope to have much feedback and contributions for this blog throughout the year and moving forward.

Really liked the comments on Chrismukkah: http://www.chrismukkah.com/misc/blog/

Interfaith issues are one of the subjects I would like to explore. When does it work and when does it not work.

I have found the most issues really relate more to life cycle events more than "Chrismukkah". When a family member dies, understanding the differences in customs.

For example, when my parents died and we sat shiva and followed the traditions from Jewish traditions, I grew to understand why those traditions are part of the process of mourning. I look forward to lighting yhartzeit candles and visiting the grave and it brings comfort. When my husband's mother died I felt very uncomfortable with their lack of traditions for mourning. There is really no "follow up" tradition to remember, I find this sad.

At the bar mitzvah of my sons my husband could participate which was nice, but there was a slight empty feeling as he could not share the aliyah with me to bless the Torah.

I feel lucky that the interfaith conflict in my family is not a major issue. I try to understand and help others with their struggle to find solutions to the issues that arise.