Interfaith

At Shir Hadash we welcome families that include non-Jewish members and those who consider themselves half-Jewish to actively participate in our congregation. We regularly hold discussion sessions and events designed to help interfaith couples and families share common experiences and explore solutions to typical challenges.

Please download our brochure, Partners of Jews, You Are a Member (PDF).

For interfaith questions, please contact Rabbi Lobel at 408-358-1751 ext. 114 or .

Grandparents Circle—For Jewish Grandparents Whose Adult Children Have Intermarried

Congregation Shir Hadash is proud to participate in this program that was created by the Jewish Outreach Institute. The Grandparents Circle is an educational and support program for Jewish grandparents whose adult children have intermarried.

Course Offering

Congregation Shir Hadash offered the Grandparents Circle Course during the spring of 2010 and expects to offer the program again in the future.

This multi-session program, led by interfaith grandparent Jean Bronstein with Rabbi Melanie Aron, is designed for Jewish grandparents whose children are intermarried and offers participants skills and techniques to share their Jewish heritages and nurture their interfaith grandchildren’s Jewish identities.

Sessions address:

• Techniques for listening and talking to adult children.
• Ways to incorporate Judaism into everyday conversations.
• Suggestions for creating new Jewish memories around the holidays and the home.

In December of 2009 we held a reunion for past participants and focused on relations with our children and children in law and on ways of sharing Hanukah with our grandparents. Interfaith grandparents who had not participated in the original program were also invited to participate.

For further information on these programs please contact or 408-358-7151 ext 4.

Resources Available

Through the Jewish Outreach Institute it is also possible to join the Grandparents Circle National Listserve—an online discussion group that allows Jewish grandparents with interfaith grandchildren to share their experiences with each other—as easy as sending email!

The listserve is a place to ask questions and get practical answers. The listserve is open to all Jewish grandparents with interfaith grandchildren whether or not they have taken the course.