Jewish DU'ers: How important should it be for a parent to accustom their child with Judaism

[Taverner]

I'm not really talking the religion - but more the culture. You see, I'm half-Jewish (yeah yeah, I know, My mom is Jewish, that makes me Jewish. You are or you aren't. Heard it.) and I was never raised in Synagogues. My great-grandparents converted to Catholicism at some time in Poland. My grandparents kept many of the traditions, but never really pushed religion on their kids.

I went through a cultural exploration of my hidden Jewish roots in college, learned a lot, and found out that ham is not the proper meat to serve with latkes.

Anyway, raising my kid in a free-thinking, naturalistic environment - I wonder how to explain when the inevitable question of race comes up. He'll probably be like me and say "if I'm Jewish, how come we don't go to synagogue or do any of the other traditions." But how would one, who is of the fold but then again not, do this instilling pride in ones ancestry, yet not getting caught up in the religion?

[Taverner]

1. Bump for the Sat Morning Crowd

:kick:

[JVS]

2. So is your kid's mom Jewish?

[Taverner]

3. Ah no

So technically he would be gentile. Not gentle mind you :)

[rockymountaindem]

4. Tough question...

Would you be averse to enrolling him in some kind of religious education program at the JCC or something?

[supernova]

5. Depends on how much it's worth to you?

Do you identify as Jewish, at least in the cultural/ethnic sense?

Do you enjoy or would you enjoy participating in ethnic celebrations if only to enjoy connecting with others and not the religious aspect?

Beliefnet used to have these hilarious quizzes about "What kind of (your faith here) are you?"

Ha. Found it: http://icq.beliefnet.com/section/quiz/index.asp?sectionID=200&surveyID=76

[fizzgig]

6. i was raised in an interfaith household

we went to synagogue when i was little and i gave a few churches a shot when i got older. for me, my judaism is pretty much cultural and i am now an agnostic. my dad is non-practicing and we only celebrate a few holidays (hanukkah and passover, it's all about the food with us :9)

you bring up the issue of race in addition to religion. the semitic 'race' includes arab peoples, not just jews.

teach the kiddo about the family history and his cultural history and give him the opportunity to explore. as far as any questions about why the family doesn't practice, i don't have any answers for that other than try to explain it in terms of culture rather than religion.

[TZ]

7. B'nai Brith Youth Organization..l

They are a Jewish group that I think fits what you are looking for. I am not religious have never been to temple, actually but had some positive experiences with this group when I was in High School.
Here is their site:
http://www.bbyo.org/

[cloudbase]

8. Gateway Chapter alum here.

Pittsburgh.