There are many Jewish movements or denominations - what are they and what are some of the differences AND?

Question

I am in a point in my young life (24) that I feel like I need religion and spirituality. My husband and I are agnostic or at least he still is and I know that I need to respect him, and he understands I need to search a pathway, so to speak, to God. Which denomination would work for my family considering that judaism asks for the support of the spouse and to raise your child a jew, but my husband does not feel the need for religion nor does he want me to involve my 4 month child. I also feel that I need to respect his wishes - though as a side note he will support my daughter if she wishes to become religious in the future he just wants her to be open minded and understand different cultures etc.

Answer 1

Please let us know if you are currently Jewish. I do not mean practicing. Was your mother or her mother (or her mother for that matter) Jewishif you are not Jewish, it sounds like a tough sell in your situation. You could go reform or conservative, but that is not authentic Judaism and you conversion will not be recognised by all.

Your best bet is to look into the seven Noahide laws

http://www.auburn.edu/~allenkc/noahide.h...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Laws_...

http://www.noahide.org/

You will be trully spiritual and do not need to convert.

Answer 2

I think Christianity should replace Judaism. Judaism is not relevant anymore, specially in this time of history. They should convert to Christianity period.

Answer 3

If your husband does not support your decision, and will not convert too, you can eliminate all but Reform Judaism.

No orthodox or probably not any conservative rabbi will convert just one spouse.   A reform rabbi might, because they are more liberal.

Answer 4

I think the other answerers are being overly optimistic.  Even a Reform rabbi would think twice before agreeing to convert someone who not only is married to a Christian with no interest in Judaism, but can not commit to raising her child in the faith either.  Judaism is not just a personal belief system.  It's a covenant - we are the collateral of our grandparents' promises to G-d, and our grandchildren are ours.  If all you want is something to believe in, all by yourself, then I'm pretty sure Judaism is not the right religion for you.  Many people consider Reform Judaism to be the "anything goes" branch.  But while there may be a few rabbis who agree with this, for the most part they do take Jewish law seriously (even when they don't consider it binding), and the only reason they accept interfaith couples is out of a desire to fight assimilation - to try and retain the next generation of Jewish children as Jews.  By saying that you are interested in the religion, but it's not important enough for you to raise your children in it, that they have to want it for themselves when they're older, you are showing no commitment to that continuity.   And that would be a major red flag to any rabbi who took his or her mission seriously.

You might want to look into Unitarianism.  They are the closest branch of Christianity to Judaism both in worldview and in respect and tolerance for other faiths.  They don't believe in the divinity of Jesus, and they don't condemn non-believers to h**l.  Plus you won't have to give up Christmas or worry about teaching your children anything that your husband will be offended over.  

I'm sorry if this came off as harsh.  I mean no disrespect.

Answer 5

I think you should look into Reform or Conservative.

This will allow you more freedom regarding your family.

Here's a good site for you to check out the beliefs...

http://www.beingjewish.com/unchanged/pla...

Here's a YouTube Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hAFzgaoZ...

Answer 6

If you are interested in conversion, inform yourself about reform and progressive congregations, these tend to be more liberal in the conversion requirements than conservative or orthodox.

You may already come from a Jewish background and may not be aware of it, check your genealogy for Sephardi Jewish surnames, Check your family traditions and customs , specially on your mother's side; does your mother wash the blood from meat before cooking for no good reason?does your mother light candles or veladoras on Friday nights or on the days prior to Christmas? Many Spanish Jews settled in Latin America and converted to Catholicism, but still practiced their customs and passed them on, only now are their ancestors going back to their Jewish roots.

Answer 7

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaism#Jew...