Animal sacrifices and free samples!

This weekend the children played "church". It was a little odd because they have never been to church. They do attend Hebrew School so don't worry that their little souls are being neglected. They are getting a sound, if not slightly confusing religious upbringing.

I was raised Catholic, though I have not considered myself as such for many years. See exhibit A: my Jewish Husband.

When we were first dating and already talking about the future, he mentioned that he wanted his kids raised Jewish.

"No problem!" I told him, "As long as we can still do Christmas and Easter."

"No problem!" He said, "As long as there's no baby in a creche under the tree."

And so it has gone along beautifully for almost thirteen years.

The kids started going to Hebrew School a few years ago and it's been very interesting to me to see the similarities and differences between my own experiences in Catholic School and theirs at Hebrew School. In many ways it's very similar- right up until the new testament which obviously is not a part of Jewish religious education.

At Hebrew school they spend a lot of time talking about all of those great old testament stories about an angry god, animal sacrifices and pestilence. I kind of love the drama of God's early work.

Anyway, this is all to give you a little background of the sheer weirdness of my children choosing to play "church".

Lily created a pulpit out of a charming shiny red step stool. Her "bible" was Larousse Gastronomique. She loves that book. When she was four she created a "book" which was a stack of paper stapled together. Each page had the name of a french dish written on it.

For her sermon she alternated between reciting Hebrew prayers and asking people what foods they would like prepared. "Baruch atta Adonai! Who wants beef bourguignon?"

Rebecca meanwhile was laying on the couch plotting a pug sacrifice. I have no idea why.

When David entered the room the children were excited.

"Come to our church Daddy!" they cried.

"Hurry up or you'll miss the animal sacrifice!" yelled Rebecca.

"And the free samples!" added Lily.

I think I may need to have a talk with the rabbi...