BECOMING A JEWISH PARENT

Rabbi Gordis, dean of the University of Judaism’s rabbinical school, has written extensively about why adult Jews should care about Judaism (Does the World Need the Jews?, 1997, etc.). In his latest book, he explains why parents should care about their children’s Jewish identity and suggests strategies for getting the kids themselves enthusiastic about Judaism. Gordis provides some basics for those parents whose memories of Hebrew school are fuzzy: When is Purim, why do Jews fast the day before, and what are those triangular pastries people eat at Purim-time? What is that archaic Aramaic document our rabbi wants to read at our son’s wedding? But this is more than a how-to. In characteristic fashion, Gordis addresses the larger spiritual questions that lurk beneath the surface of seemingly innocent hamantashen: Should we bother introducing our kids to the Jewish God if “we’re sure we don’t believe”? What role should rituals invented by men zillions of years ago play in our life? Though aimed at Jewish parents, Raising Jewish Children will prove thought-provoking for a wider audience. Gordis recounts his daughter’s asking him, “ ‘What was God doing when she was a little girl?’ . . . . Talia’s question . . . taught me that when we nonchalantly call God ‘He,’ we steal something from our little girls.” That is just one of many lessons in Gordis’s book that will benefit both Jews and Gentiles, parents and those with no plans to procreate.