My 2nd-grader daughter came from her play date just the other day and let us know that her playmate friend told her that “G-d has a son”. This sent me and my wife scrambling. You see, my oldest kid has exactly one non-Jewish playmate (and many Jewish ones). The two, one could say, became friends even before they were born. My then expecting wife met that girl’s mother in the vestibule of the doctor they shared. The two kids were born days apart. Since then, they had many uneventful play dates. But the last one made us rethink that relationship.
That day, when I came home from work, my wife took me aside and whispered with a concerned look on her face, “Do you know what your daughter learned today from her friend?” I asked my daughter to tell me herself. She told me what her playmate, who recently started attending a Catholic day school, shared with her earlier what the nuns taught her there – G-d has a “son”. I was a bit taken aback. That’s the last thing I wanted my impressionable daughter to be exposed to. I also really didn’t feel like teaching comparative religions to my children just yet. But I had to say something, without making a huge deal out of it.
“G-d doesn’t have a son, my dear. The Jewish people are his children, we are “his son”. There’s only one G-d and there’s no other person besides Him up in Heaven, no other gods exist. Do you remember what you say when you recite Shema every day at school and at home – G-d is One. There’s only one G-d. Your friend is not Jewish and she just doesn’t know Torah like you do (my daughter studies Torah every day, in Hebrew and English). Your friend believes in getchkas [Yiddish word for idols, a word all Orthodox Jewish kids know] and you shouldn’t talk to her about them. If she ever brings it up again, tell her that there’s only one G-d and no one else and that you don’t want to talk about this.
My wife then said that she’ll have a talk with the girl’s mother. This might mean the end of those play dates with my daughter’s only non-Jewish playmate. We know that my daughter’s friend was innocently sharing what she learned in her Catholic school. It’s not her fault. But I will do everything I can to protect my children, who still know virtually nothing about Christianity, Jesus and the rest, from being exposed to spiritually destructive ideas at such an early age, to safeguard their current and future relationship with the G-d of Israel. I will continue to teach my children to divide right from wrong, so that they grow up to be strong, committed Jews.
Daily Minyan 
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