Please tell me there's a way it can work ourt with my girlfriend
I am in a crisis. I've been with my girlfriend for almost 2 months. She's religious and extremely commited to it. She wants to raise her kids religious, with a house that keeps kosher and Shabbos, and she says that her kids have to go to a religious private school.
I grew up modern orthodox, but then lots of shit went down, and to make a long story short, I am now completely unobservant. I couldn't care less about religion, because I don't believe in it or god at all. And it's difficult for me to see all my friends and family waste unimaginable amounts of time, money, energy, and mental space for religion, and still carrying on with their prayers and rituals and completely devoting their lives for something that I know to be totally meaningless.
I kept telling myself that "I would just have to make some sacrifices" because I loved her too much for anything to get in the way of our relationship. But recently we had a FaceTime call to discuss it more, and I came to realize that I had been deluding myself into thinking this was something that could realistically work out. How could I be okay with spending so much money on mezuzas, kosher food, Jewish private school, sefarim, etc.? How could I not eat non-kosher in my own future home? Or not keep shabbos? How could I let my kids grow up believing that there is an invisible guy in the sky who will be upset if you picked off your etrog's pitom?
I want to know, is this life sustainable? I really am willing to make sacrifices, but I don't see how it's possible to live the way she wants to and to raise the kids to have these beliefs. What would be some other implications of our future together that I didn't mention? Is it possible in any way for me to make this work? Please help me. T
hanks so much.
Posted Mar 6, 2026, 9:46 PM UTC