I’m nineteen. My parents aren’t very passionate about religion, they’re secular Christians. My two sisters are Catholic. So I come from a Christian background, of course.
They’ve always been supportive of my decision to begin studying Judaism with my congregation. They’ve never expressed ill thoughts or told me I shouldn’t.
But whenever I try to talk about it, they sort of shut the conversation down. I’ll text my mom about my day at shul or try to strike a conversation with her about something funny my rabbi or host family said, but she always immediately loses interest. My dad proclaims his support as well, but I can only keep him engaged in conversation for a couple minutes. Only my one sister has ever asked, and she moved out of our house long ago. My second sister has told me (to which I’m at least understanding) that she feels it’s my private affair.
I came home from a study session for Shavuot a couple hours away from home just earlier today (my congregation is small and didn’t host anything of the sort). It was an all night affair and I was gone all day the day before. Is it trivial that they didn’t even ask how I was or how it went? Am I allowed to be upset?
I feel as if I’m losing touch with my parents at times because it’s a very important part of my life. I’m not Jewish right now, but I’m hoping to go in front of a beit din sometime around the end of this year or early next year. I’m about to attach an enormous piece to my identity and they know almost nothing about Judaism. Every time I try to explain the importance of a mitzvah or holiday to my mom, she gets confused or frustrated with me. She doesn’t understand why my faith is important to me, but when I try to explain why it’s important and why it makes me happy, I still face the issue of her not being interested.
I know communication and understanding is key to living in an interfaith family and I have tried so, so hard, but I’m losing my grip
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Source: Reditt
