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Community beyond the nuclear family
Welcome to our community: a space to embrace and explore our identities and experiences as people without children in the Jewish world.
Welcome to our community: a space to embrace and explore our identities and experiences as people without children in the Jewish world.
We hope this group will promote more connection, inclusion, understanding and sensitivity for those of us living beyond the norm of the nuclear Jewish family.
We hope this group will promote more connection, inclusion, understanding and sensitivity for those of us living beyond the norm of the nuclear Jewish family.
You may be reading this as a non-parent who is struggling with experiences of isolation or feeling ‘other’ in Jewish spaces. You may be feeling uncertain about what your Jewish future looks like when living a lifestyle that diverges from the norm. Or you may simply be seeking connection with other Jewish non-parents. We hope that this group will speak to you, whatever your experience has been.
You may be reading this as a non-parent who is struggling with experiences of isolation or feeling ‘other’ in Jewish spaces. You may be feeling uncertain about what your Jewish future looks like when living a lifestyle that diverges from the norm. Or you may simply be seeking connection with other Jewish non-parents. We hope that this group will speak to you, whatever your experience has been.
To our knowledge, there has been almost no public discourse about the experience of non-parents in Jewish life, no support for those of us struggling to find our place in Jewish environments, and no resources for Jewish organisations and leadership to address these issues.
To our knowledge, there has been almost no public discourse about the experience of non-parents in Jewish life, no support for those of us struggling to find our place in Jewish environments, and no resources for Jewish organisations and leadership to address these issues.
Since the norm of parenthood in Jewish communities is strongly reinforced by cultural expectations, religious values, communal activities, and the explicit obligation to pass our heritage on to the next generation, Jewish contexts can be even more isolating for non-parents, who are already a minority in society more generally.
Since the norm of parenthood in Jewish communities is strongly reinforced by cultural expectations, religious values, communal activities, and the explicit obligation to pass our heritage on to the next generation, Jewish contexts can be even more isolating for non-parents, who are already a minority in society more generally.
We think a Jewish non-parent community is an important step. We hope you'll join us.
We think a Jewish non-parent community is an important step. We hope you'll join us.
Read on to find out more about our aims and activities, or fill in this short form to express interest.
Read on to find out more about our aims and activities, or fill in this short form to express interest.
About the Jewish Non-Parent Network
About the Jewish Non-Parent Network
Who is it for?
Who is it for?
We seek to connect people who:
Identify as Jewish (no particular definition of ‘Jewish’ and no requirement to be involved in a Jewish community)
Self-identify as childfree, childless, a non-parent or other relevant identity, and expects this to remain the case indefinitely. This includes non-parents with part-time or short-term caregiving responsibilities for children e.g. foster carers and step-parents.
Are UK-based (not necessarily British by nationality)*
The community is explicitly for people of any gender identity, sexual identity, relationship status and lifestyle.
*Since there does not seem to be an equivalent group anywhere else in the world, we will also welcome members who are not based in the UK for virtual activities, but the primary focus will be to foster connections among Jewish non-parents in the UK.
What are our aims?
What are our aims?
Our aims are:
For Jewish people without children in the UK to connect with one another
To explore how Jewish identities and experiences intersect with childfree/childless identities and experiences
To engage in and create practical solutions, support and guidance around living as a Jewish non-parent
To be a voice which can represent the experience of Jewish people without children in the UK and advocate for ourselves when needed.
What we'll do
What we'll do
Potential outcomes include:
Potential outcomes include:
A Whatsapp group or other community channel
Regular virtual sessions (likely once a quarter)
In-person gatherings (e.g. retreat)
Public engagement e.g. media articles, Limmud sessions etc.
Research and resources for both Jewish childfree/childless people and the Jewish community generally
Practical recommendations for communal organisations and leadership (synagogues and cultural institutions) to improve sensitivity to and inclusion of non-parents.
Potential topics include:
Potential topics include:
Experiences as non-parents in Jewish communities including interpersonal settings, family contexts, rituals, celebrations, formal Jewish spaces etc.
Emotional impact of being childfree/childless both in Jewish contexts and society more generally.
The potential for Jewish ritual and celebration to better serve and include childfree and childless people.
Representation and themes relating to the non-parent experience that can be found in the Jewish tradition, text and commentary.
Practicalities like ageing without children, financial planning, finding appropriate communities and social environments, participating in festivals centred around the nuclear family, communicating needs and experiences to others in our lives.
Josh and Carly with their rescue dog Teddy (far right) and another dog friend
The Founders
The Founders
Hello! We are Josh Moritz and Carly Minsky - two British Jews in our late-30s currently living together with our dog Teddy in London.
As individuals and as a couple, we are non-parents but we each have different stories and experiences of what this means and what led to this.
At this point in our lives, we are well aware that, as non-parents, we are ‘out of sync’ with our peers, particularly within the Jewish communities and social environments we engage in. The norm of parenthood and emphasis on the nuclear family seems to be very strongly followed and reinforced in Jewish cultural contexts, and we often struggle to see how we fit in to Jewish communal, social and family life.
This has motivated us to seek connections with others in a similar position. We know we would benefit from more support, reflection, perspectives and practical action around the intersection of our Jewish identity and our lives without children, and we hope others feel similarly.
We have laid out our initial vision above for a UK Jewish childfree/childless group, but we are keen to discuss all of this with people who are interested in joining and co-creating this space.
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