Choose Judaism For Your Family!

The rabbis and synagogues of Conservative Judaism invite interfaith parents to choose Judaism for your children. Youngsters can find profound meaning in Judaism, whether intellectually, spiritually or in terms of making a better world.

Judaism offers:

• An openness to questioning - Judaism is ever open to questioning, to challenge, to investigation, and personal exploration.
• An insistence upon original sin - Judaism views the souls of newborn babies as pure, with the potential for good or for misdeeds. Judaism regards all of us as flesh and blood human beings, making mistakes, yet capable of changing our ways through the divine gift of teshuvah, repentance.
• Direct access to God - In Judaism, no clergy nor communal leaders are any closer to God than lay persons. No intermediary officiants are necessary for "confession" of one's sins, nor of beseeching God's presence.
• Judaism is not "all or nothing" - Human beings are perceived as trying to find their religious level on a continuum of commitments. Judaism inspires individuals to increase involvements at their own pace.
• A focus upon this world rather than just the afterlife - Although Judaism believes firmly in the spiritual life of the soul in the hereafter, the emphasis of Jews has always been upon actions in this world.
• Spiritual satisfaction - Judaism opens up an entirely different, spiritual view of the world. Judaism provides a lens through which to see and a sensor with which to feel previously ignored spiritual dimensions of life. For spiritual access, people need a new point of view, a religious perspective.

At different points in a son's or daughter's lifetimes, each of these contexts might become more important and inspiring. Judaism is a rich and competing legacy, speaking powerfully to people today as it has throughout millennia. Hebrew Scripture is the foundation upon which the monotheisms of Christianity and Islam arose. Its universalism regards righteous people from all faith communities as meriting a blessed place in the hereafter.

To assist in entering your offspring into the Covenantal relationship of Judaism with God in accord with Jewish tradition, we invite you to contact our affiliated rabbis and congregations, for guidance in choosing Judaism for children.