Today marks the sixth year that J and I have been together. Which is crazy to think about all that has changed in those six years We lived in LA and London (briefly for both of those) We graduated college We started working and settled in one place We bought a house! (That’s a very recent one) We’ve been to more than 30 weddings together all over the globe. Two siblings have gotten married We now have six total…
We have a really, really great home for our faith. If you’re ever looking for an inclusive Jewish community in north central part of Connecticut, I have a great one! We found it months after moving to Connecticut from college. When we first arrived it had two wonderful, shockingly young, Rabbis. The sweetest Cantor and a community that couldn’t be beat. Three years later, there’s been some changes. One of our Rabbis moved on, our Cantor retired. So now our Rabbis…
I’m a big fan of On Being Both, the blog by Susan Katz Miller. it’s helped me feel like my children aren’t going to hate me for choosing not to convert. Which is, shockingly, a real fear I have. I love reading other people’s interfaith stories. It’s amazing how what seems like a similar experience ends up so different for everyone. She wrote a great piece about the phrase intermarriage in Forward. I largely don’t take issue with non-Jew, but I know a…
With the mikvah postponed until our schedules matched I had time to think and I made a bigger decision than to convert. I decided to not finish my conversion. So close to the finish line, so close to finally being the same. Here’s the truth, the wedding suddenly was coming in under a year. And I started to think about all the changes that were expected of me as a wife. And suddenly, changing my last name to his AND changing…
It really happened because of a wedding invitation. It was beautiful. With their Hebrew names printed below their English ones and the script of Ani L’Dodi, v’Dodi Li on the top. I realized something in that. When J and I got married, I’d be taking that opportunity away from him. His childhood rabbi wouldn’t be able to perform the service, he’d never have his Hebrew name on his wedding invitation. And it was because of me. Since we had already found…