Parents

Become an Active Partner in Your Child’s Education

No Religious School can make Jews out of children without the active participation and support of the parents. Effective Jewish education is a partnership between the school and the home. Here are some ways to bring Judaism into your home.

1. Make Shabbat a regular part of your week and Jewish holidays a regular part of your year.  Have dinner together on Friday nights.  Light the Shabbat candles.  Say the kiddush over the wine and the motzi over the challah.  Come to Temple to pray.  (Many of the blessings and tunes can be found on Rabbi Ahuva’s Prayer-e-oke chanel on YouTube.)
2. Hold a family Havdalah service on Saturday night.
3. Make challah or other delicious foods with your kids.
4. Fill your home with Jewish books, music, and artwork and your phone with Jewish apps.
5. Put a mezzuzah on the doorposts of your home (front door & bedrooms, but not bathrooms).
6. Be positive about Jewish education. Let them know how important it is to you that they learn.
7. Continue your own Jewish education.
8. Do an ongoing family mitzvah (good deed).  Visit the infirmed and home-bound.  Feed the hungry. Collect school supplies for children in need. There is so much you can do towards tikkun olam (“the repair of the world”).
9. If you want your child to grow up to be a mensch (a good, ethical person), then be a mensch yourself.  Treat people the way you would want your child to treat others.  Remember, he/she is watching closely and learning from your example.
10. Come to services (show your kids that Jewish life is important for adults, too, and not just something kids have to do).
11. Be a Jewish role model by getting more involved with the religious school

Resources for Parents

Jewish Holidays

• Interfaithfamily.com – Jewish Holidays Cheat Sheet
• Kveller.com
• MyJewishLearning.com

Recipes

• Majestic and Moist Honey Cake
• Sunken Apple and Honey Cake
• Challah
• Potato pancakes
• Potato pancakes
• Potato pancakes
• Hanukkah cookies
• Hamentaschen

Books

•  by Dr. Wendy Mogel
• Jewish Spiritual Parenting: Wisdom, Activities, Rituals, and Prayers for Raising Children with Spiritual Balance and Emotional Wholeness (Jewish Lights Publishing) by Rabbi Paul Kipnes
• Parenting as a Spiritual Journey by Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer
• Positive Discipline by Jane Nelsen by Jane Nelsen

Curated Collections

• Tablet Magazine – The Best Jewish Children’s Books of 2014
• Interfaithfamil.com – Little Critics’ Picks for Jewish Children’s Books
• Amazon Best Sellers – Best Jewish Fiction Books
• New York Public Library – Award Winning Jewish Children’s Books of 2013
• PJ Library – Book Suggestions for Families