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To Life!

On Construction Loans
$10,000 - $400,000*

IN ERFAITH

*until project is completed

Reasons to Have

3521 Sunnydale
Bloomfield Village
MI 48301

KayBee
CONSTRUCTION

Repelling The
Frustration

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Premier Licensed
Builders 67 Years

Personal References
upon request

Interfaith life sometimes means
"just going with it."

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West Bloomfield • (248) 681-7200

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Bloomfield Hills • (248) 335-3345
43183 Woodward Ave @ Square Lake

Ann Arbor
s anyone in an interfaith
family will tell you, life is
anything but normal. We
struggle with issues of our chil-
dren's religion; we work over-
time to include skeptical in-
laws; we make a federal case
over whether a
tree belongs in
the family
room or not. In
many
instances, we
can't learn
from our par-
ents' experi-
ences.
We must
Jim Keen
break
new
Columnist
ground. Being
a Christian
dad raising a
Jewish family, I've come to grips
with the fad that I'll be in
strange situations.
A month before the High
Holidays, I was attending a com-
mittee meeting having nothing
to do with Judaism or
Christianity. You would think
that this would be a safe envi-
ronment. Alas, no. I was sur-
rounded by other committee
members — some of whom I
had known since childhood. But
they were acquaintances, not
close friends. They really didn't
know about my interfaith world.
(Writing this makes me feel like
I'm living some sort of secret
life.)
We had just finished the
meeting and were discussing the
date of our next get-together.
Someone suggested Oct. 12.
Everyone nodded in agreement
until I raised my hand. "I'm
sorry," I said, "I can't make it
that evening. It's Kol Nidre."
Blank stares. "It's the start of
Yom Kippur. I'll be with my fam-
ily."

1041820

A collective "Oh, well ... urn ...
of course." Shuffling of papers.
"Uh, yes ... well, are there any
other dates that work?" Everyone
looks at Palm Pilots. "No?"
That meeting, we didn't have
all of our board members pres-
ent. So the carefully worded
question was asked of me: "Jim,
do you know of anyone else who
might not be able make it that
night?" Suddenly, I was the Jew
on the committee who would
instantly know which others on
the committee were Jewish. This
was getting funny.
"I have no idea."
I could see the confusion in
the faces of the people I had
known for a long time. I could
have launched into an explana-
tion: "You see, I'm Christian; and
my wife is Jewish. Before we
were married, we decided to
raise our children Jewish.
However, I still help them cele-
brate their holidays. Yada yada
yada ..."
I chuckled to myself.
Sometimes, it's just easier to let
it be.

Deli After Church

Not two weeks later, my wife
was in the same boat. It was
Sunday, and my mother-in-law
was in town visiting. She took
our kids to the apple orchard.
This created a good opportunity
for me to go to church. Because
the morning was free, my wife
decided to accompany me. I'm
always grateful for her support.
After the service, we were
hungry. Hmm ... empty bellies,
no kids; where shall we go?
Zingerman's Deli! The irony was
not lost on us. It doesn't get
much more unofficially Jewish
in Ann Arbor than Zingerman's.
Here we were, fresh out of

October 27.2005

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