There have always been Jewish families with non-Jewish family members. “It’s not a shameful situation,” says Rabbi Kelley Gludt, assistant rabbi and education director at Congregation Anshei Israel, who has a diverse family background herself. “You can talk to your rabbi about it. We get it.”
The daughter of a Jewish mother and a non-Jewish father, Gludt has four older brothers from her father’s previous marriage, two of whom are fundamentalist Chris­tians while the other two are converts to Judaism. Gludt, 40, and her husband, Rob, adopted a Taiwanese baby in October 2008. Their son, 20-month-old Romi Amiel, which is Hebrew for “my noble people of God,” fits right in.  

Sid Hellring, 82, wanted his neighbors at Rita Ranch to know there was a Jewish family in their midst, so in January 2000 he built a 5-foot by 8-foot wooden menorah to place on his front lawn.
Hellring’s wife, Lorraine, told the AJP that there are only two other Jewish families in their locale.
“People we know were astounded,” she says, “that we would put something like a menorah out because of vandalism. But exactly the opposite has occurred.”
The menorah has been welcomed. Indeed, after one year when the menorah stayed in the backyard, a non-Jewish neighbor stopped and told the couple, “I’m so glad you put the menorah out this year. We missed it last year.”