Sheesh, Ginger! Doggie drama! And poor Mr. Peabody.

My brother is an aetheist. (He announced it at Thanksgiving - it doesn't surprise me but I hadn't really thought about it either.) He got married in a Buddhist ceremony and his daughter is doing the Catholic thing because my sister-in-law was raised Catholic (although, I don't know how devout she is.)

Happy Chanukah!

Jessica, have you looked into the Society for Ethical Culture? It looks like they've got a Brooklyn branch. I don't know too much about it, but a bunch of people I know went to the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, and they've described it as "Judaism without the G-d stuff." The web page for the Brooklyn one makes it seem more Quaker than Jewish, though.

Wow, that's awful, Ginger. I hope the rest of your day goes much better.

Jessica, have you looked into the Society for Ethical Culture?

I attended one of their meetings in DC when I was looking for wedding officiants, and yeah, it definitely had a Quaker/UU vibe. Could be worth looking at again though - thanks!

I remember reading an article in one of the Jewish newspapers a few years ago about a Jewish school in NYC taking their eighth grade class to see Richard Dawkins speak. The teacher quoted said something like, "We want to expose the kids to different beliefs, rather than just tell them that this and only this is the right one." One of the kids said something like, "I liked that he answered our questions like we were adults. Also, I thought it was interesting, because my dad's an atheist."

Though I'm not too fond of Dawkins, that still sounds way more interesting than my Jewish education -- the only field trips I can remember were to the Jewish Museum and to a matzo factory. Also a few to nursing homes where we'd sing holiday songs.

The teacher quoted said something like, "We want to expose the kids to different beliefs, rather than just tell them that this and only this is the right one." One of the kids said something like, "I liked that he answered our questions like we were adults. Also, I thought it was interesting, because my dad's an atheist."

Huh. That sounds really cool.

Poor Ginger & Mr. Peabody. Really, truly, consider taking him to a specialist.

Also, considering the valium they give to dogs is for rectal use, I would suggest seeing your own doctor for a prescription.

I am full of good advice!

Jessica, our neighborhood has a Children's Minyan, which is more potluck than G_d, and held at someone's house at appropriate holidays. A rabbi is there, but we don't have to join any institution.

I had an odd conversation with some Jewish friends about Christmas specials on TV. There was an article in Slate a few years ago about how it seemed like Jewish kids mostly watched "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" much more than any other specials. My informal poll of my friends bore that out. I was coming up with a bunch of theories as to why. When I talked to my dad about it, he gave me his usual "You are thinking way too much about this" look and said, "Those are the ones with the best music."

But my theory is that, unlike a lot of the other Christmas specials, those two have basically the same message -- Christmas isn't about the presents and trees and Santa and all the other flashy stuff. I think the message that our parents kind of wanted us to get was, "See, you're not missing out on Christmas. All that shiny stuff isn't REALLY Christmas."

Decent message. But a pretty big number of us said that, as kids, our emotional reaction was more along the lines of, "You kids with Santa and trees and presents, you're doing it WRONG. I know better than you, and I can now feel smug in my knowing-more-ness." Not exactly the right reaction, but I guess it's a natural one for an elementary school kid.

Good night, Ginger-- that is just way too much doggie drama for color tv. Hope things settle down the rest of the day.

While we have no particular religious affiliations other than non-practicing Jew and non-practicing Catholic, I will be shredding sweet potatoes later to make latkes. Because they're really good.