Reflections from Mother's Day

As we all know, yesterday was Mother's Day. What you may not know is that it was also the Festival of the Christian Home, which, as far as I can tell, is the Church name for Mother's Day, but which I suspect originally had some wonderful intent to expand the symbolism and meaning.

This wonderful occasion got me thinking not only how much I love the mothers in my life, but also how important mothers are to Judaism and religion in general. In Judaism, as many of you may know, the religion is passed down through the mother - I am a Jew because my mother was a Jew. Obviously, much talk has been spent my many more learned scholars than me on this topic, but I thought this was an interesting time to reflect on the idea.

In more ecumenical versions of Judaism, it is clearly accepted that if either parent is Jewish, then the child can be Jewish, going along with the rights of all persons to take on any role they choose. Nonetheless, Hallmark says we should thanks moms on this day and dads in a few weeks, so I guess that's what we'll do.

Happy Mother's Day!!

As a related topic, I was at Church with my wife yesterday and couldn't help being moved by many of the messages I heard. Obviously, I'm a Jew, but that doesn't at all negate the spiritual experience I have at a United Methodist church. I am increasingly recognizing that institutionalized religion has drawn lines where there may not be any - spirituality, i.e. connecting with a higher force (called by myself and many others God), is probably universal, and there are likely many roads that lead there. Anyone want to talk about how institutionalized religions can best work within this reality? If a religion admits it's not the only way to find God, etc., then does it lose value, or gain it?