A talk about God

When we signed Rachel up for Hebrew school, I was under the assumption that she'd go to school every Sunday, learn about Judaism and how to read Hebrew, and that would be it. We'd discuss things when she had questions, much like regular school, but otherwise it would be another activity that she really, really wanted to do and that I've always wanted to provide for her.

Apparently, I was wrong.

Our synagogue, Rodef Shalom, really encourages parent involvement, to the point of having one program a month for parents. It's not mandatory, but we are strongly encouraged to attend. The program last week was about God, and our feelings about a higher power. Drew adamantly refused to go and I couldn't blame him. Frankly, I thought it was kind of intrusive. I don't think it's anyone's business what/how I think of God, and I have no interest in hearing anyone else's view, either. But the program included activities involving our kids, who were brought out of class (sneaky!), so it would have looked strange if I hadn't been there.

The parent discussion took place in a circle, and the leader, who is the cantor, started out by saying that everyone had to talk at least once and told us that whatever was said in the room would stay in the room. That alone made me refuse to talk; the cantor tends to move these discussions along instead of letting the group linger on what they want to linger on, so I was predisposed not to participate, anyway.

The discussion focused on different people's views of God -- a lot of them reminded me of what people would have said in Portland -- and I found the whole experience uncomfortable and not particularly enlightening. I also didn't agree with the cantor when he said that all little kids are inherently spiritual (although I think Rachel has a deep feeling for Judaism that comes from I don't know where, since we've never pushed it on her, but it doesn't seem to be connected to a feeling about God) and that since this is a synagogue, they will be teaching kids about God. Of course that's true, but it bothered me that there doesn't seem to be any room for people who don't believe.

What was encouraging is that the cantor said that there are many different religious beliefs and that the synagogue teaches that, that Judaism isn't the one right answer. I liked that -- I want Rachel to have a very strong knowledge of and love for Judaism, strong enough to counter peoples' misperceptions of the religion but elastic enough to learn about other belief systems.