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Interfaith Continued from Page 1
celebrated Christmas holidays
at the grandparents, and we’ve
gone out for Christmas, but we
can’t do that this year.’ So some
of these Jewish families that
are interfaith are really strug-
gling with, ‘Do we have a tree?
Do we have Christmas dinner?
How are we going to deal with
these things that we’re very
comfortable doing with one set
of grandparents, but now we
have a parent that really wants
to do in our home?’” she said.

Frisch and the 18Doors staff
have helped couples start these
conversations and decide on
celebrations that work best for
them. 18Doors is hosting online
presentations and discussions
on topics such as “To Tree or
Not to Tree” and “Unlocking
the December Holidays – For
Couples with Young Kids/
Th inking About Kids.”
Interfaith couples
in Philadelphia are coming up
with creative ways to honor
their favorite traditions despite
the need for social distancing.

Jackie Abrams and her
husband Scott Middleton
throw a yearly holiday party for
Linda Ziman with her daughter, Cecelia Ziman-DeStefano, and her wife,
Monika Wysong
Courtesy of Linda Ziman
their friends — complete with
ugly sweater contests and gift
exchanges — that combines
both of their religious traditions.

“We have a tree and we have
dreidels, menorahs and we
really mesh all of the traditions
into one very festive evening
for our extended friend group,
and that is certainly a tradi-
tion that we really love,” said
Abrams, who is Jewish.

Th e party can’t happen this
year, but they are fi guring out
other ways to celebrate, such as
doing a cookie drop-off or an
online trivia night.

Th ey also typically celebrate
Christmas with Middleton’s
family and Chanukah with
Abrams’ family, and they have
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tentative plans to continue the
tradition this year depending
on whether it looks like they
can do so safely.

Amanda and Stephen Nicolai
typically celebrate Chanukah
with eight nightly themes.

“It’s a really fun tradition
that we started to carry on
with our daughter as well, and
as she gets older, we will add
some community service into
that and family game nights,
things like that,” said Amanda
Nicolai, who is Jewish.

Her family also celebrates
Christmas with Midnight Mass
and a large gathering with her
husband’s Catholic side of the
family. Th is year, they plan
to celebrate Chanukah with
her sister and father, but they
have canceled the 30-person
Christmas feast that usually
takes place in their South
Philadelphia home due to lack
of space for social distancing.

Dr. Linda Ziman is Jewish,
and her wife Monika Wysong
was raised Catholic. Th ey
usually celebrate Chanukah
with their daughter Cecelia
Ziman-DeStefano as a nuclear
family and attend church in
their neighborhood of West
Mount Airy on Christmas Eve.

“I love singing ‘Silent Night’
in the dark with the candles
glowing in everyone’s hands. I
always throw in a ‘Shema Yisrael’
for good measure,” Ziman said.

Th ey exchange gift s the next
day with Ziman’s in-laws. Th is
year, they will be doing that on
Zoom. Tychelle Graham-Moskowitz
and Ben Moskowitz typically
JEWISH EXPONENT
Ben Moskowitz and Tychelle Graham-Moskowitz
Courtesy of Ben Moskowitz and Tychelle Graham-Moskowitz
Scott Middleton and Jackie Abrams
celebrate Christmas and
Chanukah with their respective
families. Graham-Moskowitz
was raised Christian but now
identifi es as spiritual rather
than religious, and she started
observing Kwanzaa fi ve years
ago, which they will also
celebrate this year.

She and her husband are
Courtesy of Jackie Abrams
planning to have children and
raise them Jewish with an
awareness of their interfaith
cultural background. They
believe it is important to start
incorporating their rituals into
their lives for this reason.

“When we got married, we
talked about raising our children
in the Jewish faith. We’re making
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