Yet another interfaith experience and the inevitable post-event thought dump

[scarlettina]

wanton_heat_jet teaches church school (read "Sunday school") at a local Unitarian church of which he's a member. He's a staunch atheist, but has a deep interest in history and spiritual traditions and is very well read on the subject. He recently asked me to come to his class and speak about Passover; today was the class. The whole experience has been interesting

Comments

[mabfan]

A few years ago, I was asked to teach about Judaism to a class of international students at the high school where I taught. I figured I would start from Christianity and explain where Judaism differs. The problem was that these students, who were mostly from Asian countries, didn't know that much about Christianity either. I had to teach them Christianity first.

One of my most vivid memories of that class was when I explained the laws of kashrut to the students, and one of them asked me, "So what do you eat when you eat at McDonald's?" They were shocked when I explained that I don't eat at McDonald's. The idea that an American might not eat at McDonald's had never crossed their minds before.

Could I direct others to this post?

[scarlettina]

Please feel free. It's a public post.

I'm curious about your decision to teach Judaism the way you described above given the context. If the Asian students didn't know much about Christianity, wouldn't they be approaching it from the same context as Judaism, i.e., without basic reference points? Why not just start from scratch? I'm interested in your perspective on this.

One of the things that occurred to me as I prepared to talk to these kids was the possibility that all they knew about Jews was that we don't believe in Jesus. I finally decided that if a student said that's what Judaism was, I'd challenge the assumption that the way to define something is first by defining what it's not. You don't really know that a spider is a spider by saying it's not a lady bug. It's true that Jews don't believe in Jesus, but I thought it would be more effective to talk about what Jews do believe (which was how I came to the three-point approach I discovered on the Web). The way I see it is that drawing parallels between different belief systems

[paulcarp]

Nicely written. It sounds like a lot of effort for two kids, so I'm happy you've posted about it here.

Sorry about the cup.

[scarlettina]

It sounds like a lot of effort for two kids...

Well, it was, but I still think it was worth it.

[caryabend]

The best part of teaching others is the part where you learn something yourself. In that context, no amount of effort is too much.

[garyomaha]

Hi. Fascinating stuff and I want to jump on a plane and talk with you in person about this. (Except that's not going to happen, at least not right now

[scarlettina]

Glad you enjoyed the post, Gary. There's some stuff I just have to write about; helps me process my experience.

The cup of Miriam is a relatively new addition to the Passover seder, a feminist reaction to the dominance of men in the telling of the story. It's, maybe, ten years old at the most and, as I said, I have mixed feelings about it. You won't see it at Orthodox seders, and probably not at many Conservative seders either. So don't sweat this particular element as not having been part of your upbringing. It's particularly American and particularly modern. But I'm glad I could introduce the idea to you.

...in our UU church's religious education, there's much time spent teaching kids about other religions. ...That's what I've been getting from talking with JT about Unitarianism and what I've been reading about it. (I'll do this: I make a new friend who celebrates a different tradition than mine and go on a reading binge so I'm not completely ignorant. I've been pilloried on occasion for being a Jew whose read the Christian

[garyomaha]

>>It seems to me, though, that with Christmas celebrated in a UU church and no others, the deck is stacked against other traditions being attractive options.<<

Oh, not at our church! Many traditions are both honored and celebrated. Our choir in fact is doing a song in Hebrew to recognize Israel's birthday. (Although, since a majority of our congregation comes from a Christian background, there is a tendency to place some emphasis on Christmas. Well, heck, I enjoy singing carols and always have -- maybe that's my problem?)

We must continue this discussion sometime!

[willowgreen]

Last thought: as I tell M. regularly, although we are now UUs in worship and in belonging, I will always be a Jew because of my heritage. That is a bit different than most religions, isn't it?One of the reasons I'm a UU is that it's a welcoming community for my family. My husband is Jewish, and even though I'm Not, my kids basically consider themselves Jews whose mother drags them to church every Sunday

Thanks for posting about this.

[robespierrette]

I love hearing about things that make people think, since then I have to think, too. :)

I was startled recently to see a poll about what religions Americans adhere to, and Judaism came in at only 1.7%. My childhood memories are of being the lone Catholic kid in a neighborhood that was 2/3 Protestant and 1/3 Jewish, so my perspective was really off.

And my Sunday school classes were all about starting from first principles, so I never actually learned much about Christianity, since (probably due to frequent post-Vatican II shifts in curriculum catching me just wrong) every year we wound up covering something about Judaism or a Jewish religious holiday. When I moved to 97% Catholic Ireland, the nuns were horrified to find out that I knew way more about Passover than about Easter, and I didn't know any of the catechism. They had to give me remedial classes to get me through Confirmation (and that's a whole 'nother story).

[oldmangrumpus]

If was only two kids you should think about doing it again.

And under "what's it mean to be Jewish?" (a better way of framing the question, IMHO), I'm surprised you didn't mention the centrality of the Hebrew language. After all, it's called "Hebrew School", not "Jewish School".

(yes, Unitarians are a bit crunchy, but after looking over those white supremacist sites, consider the alternative)

And I am sorry about the cup. I know how sentimental you can be; that's one of the things I love about you.

[garyomaha]

>>yes, Unitarians are a bit crunchy<<

::crunch::crunch::