My Nonprofit Reviews
Jennifer635
Review for Interfaithfamily Com Inc, Newton, MA, USA
Rabbi Robyn Frisch and Interfaith Family love and religion workshop was the BEST thing my fiance Dan and I could have ever done for our relationship! Rabbi Robyn and the workshop gave us a healthier, honest, and more solid relationship then we ever even imagined.
Dan and I were together for 9 years. We always struggled with "the religion" thing. He is catholic and I am jewish. It was so painful for us that we broke up two times over it... they were very short break ups, but intensely emotional. So to say it was a sore topic was an understatement, not only between Dan and I but also with family. Well even though I often thought about this issue, I would convince myself that we will figure it out later...
well then Dan proposed... and I asked my mom to find us a rabbi. She was given Rabbi Robyn's name and when she forwarded me the email Rabbi Robyn sent her, there happened to be a link for this "Love and Religion Workshop". So I contacted Rabbi Robyn and asked her for more information. She sensed my hesitation and said why don't we pick a time to meet and we can discuss what its all about. Well... this meeting turned into more of a "therapy session" of sorts where Dan and I talked about our feelings towards religion. This short discussion meeting turned into almost 3 hours of talking between Dan and I and Rabbi Robyn, being the amazing person she is, didn't mind at all and gladly gave her time and expertise to "mediate" the interactions between Dan and I. We left that night feeling really good about the ability to communicate in that environment.
So after thinking about it and stewing over it for a couple of weeks...I signed us up for the workshop. I have to admit i was still a bit hesitant because I was worried other couples views might be counterproductive to things Dan and I had already agreed on. But this was not the case at all, in fact more often then not, someone articulated a feeling or thought that I didnt know how to put in words when talking with Dan which was very helpful. So we did the workshop nov-dec of 2016 with 3 other couples which coincidentally were all catholic and jewish faiths. Half way through the workshop, the topic/homework brought up christmas trees and decorations. This was a very difficult topic for us and in the workshop, Dan and I basically went at it, gloves off and everything. Rabbi Robyn had to stop us so she could continue with the discussion topics. And I actually found out later that Rabbi Robyn was going to suggest that we go to couples counseling based on how intensely we butted heads in the workshop... but that night, on our way home, we had a breakthrough!!! We actually sat in the driveway in the car till about 12:30 at night talking about it. We realized not only the issue with a tree, but the issues individually we had with religion and how for 9 years this approach didn't work and instead of thinking about it separately, we would try "doing" religion together. Well ever since then, we have been religiously unbreakable and we owe it to Rabbi Robyn and Interfaith Family!!!!
Now, expressing our feelings and thoughts towards religion and our future, which was once something we would avoid like the plague, we actually look forward and enjoy and get excited about.