Interfaith in-law question

[Stacey B]

How do I ask this. I am in a mixed marriage, I am Jewish and my dh was brought up Lutheran. We are raising ds Jewish which according to my MIL is wonderful (she is of the opinion that any religion is better than none). Anyway, my SIL is Christian and very involved with her church and a few months ago she came to me with some questions about Judaism because she was having a hard time believing what her pastor was saying was correct (he had said that Jew read the Song of Solomon for Passover ) I explained to her about the Haggadah. Since then she's come to me with a few other questions and they are getting beyond my scope of knowledge. She is asking the questions out of curiosity and I don't want to stop "fact checking".

Any ideas?

[Nazsmum]

Not sure what u are asking? I would say find the answer together.

Will someone be mad?

[MeepyCat]

If her questions are getting past your knowledge, would your rabbi be willing to talk to her?

[Stacey B]

I guess I'm looking for some good online resources for her, or books.

[anj_rn]

Well if the questions are general, you can try http://www.jewfaq.org/beliefs.htm

If they are specific to learning, I would look up questions with her.

[Nazsmum]

What kind of questions?

Maybe we can help point you in the right direction.

[Stacey B]

some of them are, well dumb for lack of better words. Like that the Torah is the only books of the "bible" that Jews believe in. I can't think of any more right now. But they are on that level, nothing too heady, I think the website would work really well.

[Nazsmum]

NO ???? is DUMB!!!!!

[Ellien C]

Originally Posted by anj_rn

Well if the questions are general, you can try http://www.jewfaq.org/beliefs.htm

If they are specific to learning, I would look up questions with her.

I was just going to suggest this. I love JewFaq! I found it through MDC. We are Christian but our daughter attended a Jewish day care and it really helped fill-in-the gaps with questions she had.

[Stacey B]

Well I guess enough of the people in her church noticed things were astray. We had lunch today and she told me that her minister has started talking with a Rabbi to learn a little more about Judaism. I think this is great because I don't feel it should be my SIL's responsibility to fact check every service she goes to. I mean if she wants more information that's great.

[zoebird]

ttrue.

in the alternative, she might be interested in starting an inter-faith discussion group.

when i was a teen, i was involved in such a group. a local rabbi and a local priest decided it would be a good idea. they came up with a plan--one for teens, one for adults--of topics to discuss. for teens, we studied "life cycles" of each community. this covered the basic things like "when life begins" and "first initiations" and "special celebrations throughout one's life" and so on.

each week, we met at a different religious community and were given a tour of their meeting space--mosque, church, synagogue, temple, etc. then, the adults went and did their topic (no clue what that was), and we went and did our topic. Adults from the community would "facilitate" the discussion, but the kids would share with each other what their religion teaches.

i think it lasted about 10 weeks or so?

it was excellent. i really enjoyed it. it was a great way to learn about a lot of different people and their religions, make friends, and have resources that extended beyond the program (eg, your SIL could ask her new jewish friend those questions instead of you!).

it's a bit of work, but it might be something she could take to her pastor, and he could take to his rabbi, so that everyone could get it rolling.

[umsami]

About 10+ years ago, I picked up "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Judaism." While the title is offensive to some, the book (series) are really easy to skip through... read a bit... and go on. So, maybe give it to her as a gift?

I'd also invite her over for your family's seder, if she's really interested.

I'm pretty sure this is it, although the cover has changed. I remember the author's name.

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Idiot...8838073&sr=8-1

I will say that I gave my Mom the same book (well, series) on Islam... and because of various negative things she'd heard about Islam, she kept on calling me up asking if it was really true.... because it was nothing like she'd been taught. (Yes, Mom...it's all a fake book...part of an evil Muslim plot to convince you that Islam isn't as bad as you probably thought. I'm sure the publishing company is secretly owned by Muslims as well. )