For those of you in the Boston, MA area, we encourage you to check out author Keren McGinity’s presentation “Interfaith Romance, Gender, and Pop Culture.” Dr. McGinity, a Brandeis professor, and author of Still Jewish: A History of Women and Intermarriage in America will be speaking at Newton North High School on March 15th.

Have you or someone you know ever loved or been highly attracted to someone outside your religion? Join Brandeis U. Professor Keren R. McGinity for an evening of entertainment, history, and culture, as she weaves together interfaith romance, gender, and popular culture, revealing how love across religious lines has been depicted in movies and on TV–throughout our culture in other words. You just might be surprised to discover how life imitates art–and creates myths in the process. A signing of Ms. McGinity’s new book, Still Jewish: A History of Women and Intermarriage in America will follow the presentation.

To register for the program, click here.

A few days ago, a friend posted a video on Facebook in honor of all Jewish mothers. It’s an advertisement for a tea company, but what struck me was that while it does celebrate Jewish mothers, you don’t know it’s only about them until the very end. Until then, the commercial could be about mothers anywhere.

And that got me thinking about Jewish mothers. They come in all shapes, sizes, denominations, and skin colors. In fact, Jewish mothers look a lot like non-Jewish mothers; and Jewish mothers act a lot like non-Jewish mothers. They care for their children, make meals, celebrate holidays, try to balance work and family, carpool, shop, fret, push and prod…

So when we are working to create a more welcoming environment in the Jewish community, we have to remember that we have to welcome everyone, because we can’t tell by looking at people what their religious backgrounds or interests are. We have to actually talk to them and find out. We can’t assume that a family is or isn’t Jewish, or that a parent is or isn’t Jewish. In fact, we have to assume that everyone is interested, not the other way around.

That’s what the Big Tent Judaism Coalition is all about. Having organizations in the community who have the interest of the “client” at heart – no membership quotas, no fundraising goals, no denominational leaning—just people who will constantly ask the important questions: “What does the person want from the Jewish community?” and “How can we help them find it?”

And here’s to all mothers everywhere!