How to Be a Jewish Parent: A Practical Handbook for Family Life

by Anita Diamant, Karen Kushner

How can I make the holidays interesting and meaningful to my child?
Should I send my child to a Jewish day school? A Jewish summer camp?
What kind of synagogue is best for my family?
How do I plan a family trip to Israel or add Jewish heritage sites when traveling around the country or around the world?

If you are, or hope to be, a Jewish parent in more than name, you have a lot of decisions to make. So many choices! But you can have no better guide to this wealth of opportunity than Anita Diamant.

The author of popular books on Jewish weddings and baby rituals, Diamant now joins with family therapist Karen Kushner to help you through the next steps. They give creative, practical answers to these and many other questions, provide guidance on how to foster Jewish decision making for children of all ages, describe how to make your home a "Jewish space," and explain the importance of synagogue membership, holiday celebrations, community service, and other family activities.

Diamant and Kushner draw from many sources to describe the practices, customs, and values that go into creating a Jewish home. They combine insights from Jewish tradition with contemporary developmental thinking about how children learn and grow. They provide addresses (including Web sites) where you can find specific information and other resources. And since experience may be the best of all teachers, they share their own and other parents' stories and observations. For Diamant and Kushner, the number-one goal of How to Be a Jewish Parent is to give parents (and grandparents) guideposts to raising joyful children within the rich tradition of the Jewish faith and culture. No Jewish family should be without it.

Genres: Judaism, Parenting, Jewish, Nonfiction, Judaica, Religion, Family

320 pages, Paperback

First published September 5, 2000

About the author

Anita Diamant is the author of thirteen books -- including THE RED TENT. Based on the biblical story of Dinah, THE RED TENT became a word-of-mouth bestseller in the US and around the world, where it has been published in more than 25 countries.

Her new book, a work of nonfiction. PERIOD. END OF SENTENCE. A NEW CHAPTER IN THE FIGHT FOR MENSTRUAL JUSTICE will be published in May 2021., As different as they are, this book returns to some of the themes of THE RED TENT -- including the meaning and experience of menstruation.

Anita has written four other novels: GOOD HARBOR, THE LAST DAYS OF DOGTOWN, DAY AFTER NIGHT, and THE BOSTON GIRL. She is also the author of six non-fiction guides to contemporary Jewish life, which have become classic reference books: THE JEWISH WEDDING NOW, THE JEWISH BABY BOOK, LIVING A JEWISH LIFE, CHOOSING A JEWISH LIFE, HOW TO RAISE A JEWISH CHILD, and SAYING KADDISH..

An award-winning journalist, Diamant's articles have appeared in the Boston Globe, Real Simple, Parenting Magazine, Hadassah, Boston Magazine and Yankee Magazine. PITCHING MY TENT, a collection personal essays, is drawn from twenty years worth of newspaper and magazine columns.

Reviews

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some parts of this book are very nice: suggesting how to create Shabbat rituals when everyone in the family is busy on Friday nights, or catering to toddler needs during holidays. Others are just horrible and outdated. Additionally, the whole book is, unsurprisingly, catered to middle to upper class American Jews living in the suburbs, without a lot of consideration for Sephardic rituals, people from different backgrounds, etc. I mean, it makes sense since that's a lot of the book market, but it can also be extremely alienating.

[Tipper · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is mostly regurgitated from Living a Jewish Life: Jewish Traditions, Customs and Values for Today's Families and, thus, is pretty dull if you've recently read that book. Most of the parenting advice is very standard: teenagers want to rebel - who knew?

The part about circumcision riled me up. Throughout the whole book there is a lot of "Oh, you should do whatever works for your family" stuff, yet when it comes to circumcision, the quote about "If we stop circumcising, we stop being Jews" is thrown out. It's the only thing presented as un-optional, do-this-or-you-are-not-Jewish and, frankly, I expected more of Anita Diamant, who is so much a liberal Jew she doesn't even mention Orthodoxy in her books.

Anita Diamant, I am disappoint.

[Becca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too many directives and logistical rules on how to raise a Jewish child, not enough about how to raise one ethically/morally/spiritually.

[Stephen · Rating 1 out of 5]

All it says is money money money and school school school

[Jordon Gyarmathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this book won't be relevant to me for awhile I always enjoy the books of Anita Diamant. She includes common traditions and blessings in her books, and provides multiple different ways to practice and educate. She is understanding that not everyone can afford sending a child through Yeshiva, and people practice Judaism differently. I know that I'll pick this book up within the next 10 years for good reference.

[Rebecca Krause · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed all of the ideas on how to incorporate children into different festivals/activities! Very helpful. I think the section on schools was it that long. I also appreciated the detail on lifecycle events.

[Taylor Kundel-Gower · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Nyla · Rating 4 out of 5]

For 52 Book Club reading challenge 2023 Prompt # 4 = Title Starting With The Letter "H"

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great resource. It can be a little 'preachy' at points, but it has a lot of great ideas for making Shabbat and Jewish holidays special and magical for children. I like Diamant's idea that predictable rituals like Shabbat provide a "proof of love" for a lifetime for kids, even if they don't remember the exact details from toddlerhood. I also like her ideas about weaving Judaism into the fabric of your life so your kids are exposed early, just as you expose children to art, and music and other things your family values.

[Vanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, especially since it is organized by the cycle of the Jewish year. Anita Diamant has some wonderful and practical suggestions for celebrating holidays and occasions and each of them is divided by the age of children. She has written some wonderful books about living a Jewish life and for converts. This is a must-have for any parent wanting to bring more Judaism into their home and everyday life.

[Grace Smiley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now Called "How to Raise a Jewish Child", this was a pretty good overview of things to consider when you're looking at bring up Jewish kids.

[Catherine Woodman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent reference by and excellent writer

[Alana]

Loved this book. Want to own it to use it as a reference.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Practical, helpful suggestions.