On Sunday evening we celebrated my niece's fifth birthday with some friends. At the dinner table I was somewhat amazed when I heard my wife go into a discussion of the importance of faith in kids. I had brought up the subject since my son went to his first Bat Mitzvah yesterday at the Issac Mayer Wise Temple. Since I was curious I did a fair amount of research on the internet and asked questions to some of the people when I was there. As I found out in my research, Rabbi Wise started the Reformed Judaism movement. The temple's exterior is the basic 1870ish building but the interior decoration is quite amazing. For her Bat Mitzvah, Samantha, had to learn to read and speak Hebrew to do her part in the service. She probably started her studying in the fourth grade. Her parents celebrated her coming of age by throwing a luncheon and party more elaborate than most weddings.

What amazed me about my wife's discussion of the importance of faith in kids was the religous tone of her discussion. To me she was sounding pretty close to the "television version" of a born again Christian. Her personal involvement in our son's religous education is pretty similar to her involvement in the Bat Mitzvah. She read the invitation and noticed how expensive and fancy the invitation was. The good news is that she thinks faith in kids is important. The bad news is that God has a lot of work to do with her.

10:57:23 PM