tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84535742247662657582024-03-20T07:31:25.324-04:00Comfortably JewishA new handbook for interfaith familiesGarrett Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04456886248893776350noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8453574224766265758.post-67920089211574171082010-01-06T12:51:00.003-05:002010-07-19T14:51:48.912-04:00<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGK2NdULubS1ISUd-EyOlEmeP7GXXXqUUyy602-_Z44YqShI-PAKmudTHaJC1UVRZlYzBoCh19tgSD9p9jrE0vZUDqO5R7ORobVUS3Z6n0aAEaDigv5BIRP9008G7k6JIZilm9ZIntBVA/s1600-h/Comfortably_Jewish_front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGK2NdULubS1ISUd-EyOlEmeP7GXXXqUUyy602-_Z44YqShI-PAKmudTHaJC1UVRZlYzBoCh19tgSD9p9jrE0vZUDqO5R7ORobVUS3Z6n0aAEaDigv5BIRP9008G7k6JIZilm9ZIntBVA/s400/Comfortably_Jewish_front.jpg" /></a>Being Jewish is important to you, right? But maybe you’re not exactly sure how to express it, especially if you’re intermarried or you’re not that involved with the Jewish community. How do you pass on a sense of meaningful Jewishness to your kids? Now you don’t have to figure out the answers alone.<br />
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Conversational, engaging and fun, <i>Comfortably Jewish</i> (Purple Pomegranate Press, January 2010) shares stories and practical tips on everything from children’s activities to sampling Jewish food to celebrating the holidays. A must-have resource for families who want to enjoy the Jewish side of life! <br />
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Garrett R. Smith and his wife, Nici, both children of Jewish intermarried couples, are practicing everything he describes in this book as they raise their own children. Garrett is the director of <a href="http://www.celebratelife.us/">Celebrate Life</a>, an innovative service to Jewish interfaith families helping them fashion creative rites of passage.<br />
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For a signed copy, "buy now", please contact us for a special discount if you want to sell or distribute copies.<br />
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</form>Garrett Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04456886248893776350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8453574224766265758.post-73229431102400913482010-01-06T12:49:00.004-05:002011-06-06T13:01:15.220-04:00About the Author<b>PERSONALLY</b><br />
My wife Nici and I are the parents of three wonderful children, Zachary, Daliya and Ilana. We live in the city of Watertown just outside of Boston. I am originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, and my wife comes from the country of Namibia in Southern Africa. We were married out in the middle of the desert in Namibia. Both my wife and I come from intermarried homes. I was raised Jewish, and feel passionate about my Jewish identity. I became a Christian by faith, while I was living in Israel about fifteen years ago. We raise our children in both the Jewish and Christian worlds.<br />
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I love working with interfaith couples through my ministry <a href="http://www.celebratelife.us">Celebrate Life</a>. Because I am Jewish, I understand Jewish culture, and because I am Christian, I understand Christians. I consider myself a cultural translator as I help couples understand each other. Most couples don't even realize when their conflicts are cultural and not personal.<br />
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PROFESSIONALLY</b><br />
I have a Doctor of Ministry degree in Marriage and Family Counseling. My thesis was in working with Jewish Intercultural Families. My doctorate as well as my Masters of Divinity degree are from Gordon Conwell. I also have a Bachelor of Arts in Business/Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. I am a member of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors. I am the teaching elder at a local Messianic Jewish Fellowship (www.sarshalom.us) and also the Director of Spiritual Formation and outreach at Newton Presbyterian Church. I have been a minister for over twelve years.Garrett Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04456886248893776350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8453574224766265758.post-31297032366333430362010-01-06T09:55:00.001-05:002010-03-01T14:22:31.187-05:00Book ReviewsFound on Amazon: <br />
5.0 out of 5 stars Great resource on Jewish identity, February 3, 2010<br />
By R. Harvey "Richardh" (UK) <br />
(REAL NAME) <br />
This is a great book for anyone wishing to understand the basics and a bit more of being Jewish and bringing up a family to understand their Jewish identity. The author writes with clarity, passion and pastoral concern, making complex issues easy to understand and accessible in bite-sized chunks. Lots of rich resources on Jewish life, history, culture, humor and food, with dollops of practical advice and an easy introduction into Jewish life. Great work - what's next - the study guide or the movie?<br />
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Comfortably Jewish<br />
review by Shoshanna Pucci<br />
By Garrett R. Smith. San Francisco: Purple Pomegranate Productions, 2010. 134 pages.<br />
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Identity formation for the Messianic Jew is a complex thing. While my Jewish parents raised me in a Christian faith community because of their faith in Jesus, there was an ever-present tension they felt in the alien American church culture. Yet in spite of my Sunday School upbringing, my personal faith in Jesus and feeling largely estranged from the Jewish community, I somehow came away with a very strong sense of myself as Jewish. How did that happen? Questions about cultural identity have recently demanded my urgent attention, raising three young children who are soaking up all of the traditions and cultural cues that my husband and I present. Though my non-Jewish husband and I share a passion for Jesus, I was overwhelmed by the responsibility of transmitting my Jewish heritage without the help of the larger Jewish community. <br />
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After reading Garrett Smith’s new book, Comfortably Jewish, I feel like it might come more naturally than I thought. Himself raised in an intermarried home with a strong affection for Jewish culture, Smith believes, after working with many couples as a counselor and what he calls a “cultural translator”, that Jewish culture and identity don’t have to be linked to organized Judaism or religious understanding. This practical resource book advises intermarried couples, secular Jews unaffiliated with the Jewish community, and Messianic believers that filling their children’s lives with Jewish experiences and information is enough to create Jewish identity. Further, this identity can happily co-exist and enrich other parts of you and your children’s faith and identity. <br />
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Comfortably Jewish is organized for dabblers. While Smith opens with a light-hearted theoretical chapter on Jewish identity, the bulk of the book is very practical. Smith’s chapter on creating a Jewish home atmosphere unpacks the Jewish mystique into attainable cultural experiences and activities organized around language, food, field trips, home decorations, art and traditions. The section on the holidays is written in such a way that even harried moms like myself who have five minutes to prepare grocery lists, and holiday-oriented projects can access a Biblical and historical background for the holiday, cultural traditions, and child-friendly ideas in one quick sitting. <br />
For example, the section on Passover, which Smith describes as, “the best known and most beloved of all Jewish holidays,” begins with a basic explanation of the Exodus account. For intermarried or Messianic couples, there is a good explanation of the connections between Passover and the Last Supper, Communion and other New Testament-based ideas derived from the Passover paradigm. Then Smith describes the traditional seder symbolic elements and order with some spiritual insights that can be highlighted for children and adults through the account’s narration. There’s even an appendix of recipes grouped by holiday. But what I loved most about this book was Smith’s real life experiences as a father of young children laced throughout, creatively imparting vision for making each holiday relevant, personal and captivating for children.<br />
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Understanding and incorporating Jewish culture involves more than a string of meaningful (and delicious) traditions – it is also a way of thinking about the world. Comfortably Jewish can be used as a conversation springboard for intermarried couples trying to understand each other and their extended families. Smith uses brief histories on modern Jewish persecution and the Land of Israel, to account for a cultural pre-occupation with anti-Semitism, a penchant for debating politics/ethics and a concern for social action. He also gives intermarried couples language and ideas for how to practically honor and validate non-Jewish spouses’ culture and values so that the non-Jewish side of the family isn’t left feeling like chopped liver. There is also a fantastic chapter on planning life cycle events – weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, and baby-namings that establish Jewish identity. The ideas listed for creating a meaningful coming of age rite were fresh, practical, and meaningful. <br />
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Free of “you should” and abounding in “you might want to think about”, Comfortably Jewish invites readers to see their heritage like a pot of chicken soup and matzah balls simmering on the stove – inviting, enticing to the senses, and as comfort food on their own terms. You can have your matzah balls and eat them too.Garrett Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04456886248893776350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8453574224766265758.post-4356899225207972902009-12-16T14:55:00.001-05:002010-03-01T14:24:47.148-05:00Endorsements"This is a great book for anyone wishing to understand the basics and a bit more of being Jewish and bringing up a family to understand their Jewish identity. The author writes with clarity, passion and pastoral concern, making complex issues easy to understand and accessible in bite-sized chunks. Lots of rich resources on Jewish life, history, culture, humor and food, with dollops of practical advice and an easy introduction into Jewish life. Great work - what's next - the study guide or the movie?" - Richard Harvey, Academic Dean, All Nations.<br />
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“In a distinctly Jewish voice, Smith enables readers to incorporate Jewish culture and tradition into their lives while giving them the pieces to honor the faith and meaningful traditions of their non-Jewish spouse.” —<i>Shoshanna Pucci (Masters of Teaching), teacher and intermarried mother of three </i><br />
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“This book is practical and winsome. Any pastor with interfaith couples in their congregation will benefit from this resource. And so will the couples!” — <i>Lon Solomon, senior pastor, McLean Bible Church </i><br />
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“A much-needed resource for Jewish families who care about instilling the next generation with Jewish values and identity based on a history that goes back to Abraham.” — <i>David Brickner, executive director, Jews for Jesus </i><br />
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“As a Jewish father, I’m daily faced with the challenge of shaping organic Jewish identity in the hearts and minds of my kids. Garrett Smith has crafted a user-friendly primer on what it means to be and feel Jewish, right down to the kishkas.”—<i>Scott Brown, co-producer of “Joined Together?” a video on interfaith couples from Jewish and Christian backgrounds </i>Garrett Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04456886248893776350noreply@blogger.com