Wednesday, March 28, 2012

My Parenting Through a Jewish Lens Experience

Avivah Goldman, and her husband Paul Green, participated in 
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens at Temple Isaiah in Lexington.

Sunday mornings spent attending the Parenting Through a Jewish Lens program led by Dr. Ronit Ziv-Krieger, such a wise and inspiring teacher and highly skilled group leader, have been a real treasure.  Any resistance to rising early on a Sunday morning was fast overcome upon entering the wonderful learning environment of our classroom. 

Our discussions, anchored by the reading of short Jewish texts, gently ushered me and my fellow learners into thinking about questions of meaningful and mindful parenting, through the lens of Jewish teachings and practices.

Session #8, which tackled complex questions concerning the meaning of G-d and prayer,  is one of many that has stayed with me.  Each of us explored our struggles with and our conceptions of  G-d.  It was truly a privilege to hear the ways in which my classmates make meaning of that which is divine. Speaking my own rendition aloud was an act of discovery. It is hard to describe the atmosphere of deep listening and respect that was present that made this highly personal discussion possible.  From our adult ideas, we then addressed the equally complex question of how we speak  to our children about  God. 

In this session and throughout the course,  we talked about the manner in which we can bring Jewish practices into our homes in ways that feel appropriate for each individual participant and family.  With the grounding provided by Jewish texts, my classmates and I wrestled with our ideas in a way that exemplifies the very Jewish tradition of engaged struggle and discourse. 


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