Just a bunch of cashews

We are an interfaith family, and it sometimes takes a week like this, the overlapping of Passover and Holy Week, for Jason and I to stop and reflect on the choices we have made. By no means is being an interfaith family unique in today's day and age, but after nearly 14 years of marriage and being a parent for almost 11, I have come to the conclusion that every interfaith family is different in their own special way and no one does it exactly the same way. There is no rule book on how to do it, and no right or wrong. Jason and I did look for a how-to manual when we first were engaged, and we bought a number of books that we hoped would guide us in what we were attempting to do, but unfortunately nothing was a perfect fit for us.

Our choice to raise our children Catholic while instilling in them a sense of their Jewish cultural heritage may not be a popular one. Conservative Christians may wonder how I can believe in Jesus, and not feel the need for Jason to convert. And on the flip side, conservative Jews likely wince at the thought that we are teaching our kids Jewish traditions and that Jason gets up every Sunday to help me and the kids get ready for church. That's OK. We only need to answer to Him. What we are teaching our children is that we have a universal and all-loving God. Daddy learned about God the Jewish way because his mom is Jewish. Mommy learned about God the Catholic way because her parents are Catholic. Does that mean one way is wrong, and the other right? Of course not. So how could we possibly teach them differently?

Tomorrow night we will celebrate Passover by retelling the story of how the Israelites escaped from slavery in Egypt, just as Jewish families have done for thousands of years. We will follow the Seder, or order of the ritual, and pray the same prayers and eat the same foods. The celebration actually brings me closer to Easter as my family performs the Seder the same way Christ did with his disciples at the Last Supper. He said the same prayers, ate the bitter herbs dipped in saltwater to commemorate the tears and pain of the Israelites, shared wine and broke matzoh. Breaking the unleavend bread and passing it around the table to share with others is what you do on Passover. I wonder how many Christians actually know that.

Describing our interfaith family and traditions is not always easy. For our kids, it is just the way things are in our home. A year or two ago they were talking about how we were Catholic Jews, and one of them declared we were Cashews. Although silly and simplistic, for now the label works. We're just a bunch of cashews.