My mother made a small kugel just for me, and my mother-in-law made the best vegetarian chopped liver. But it's my daughter-in-law, Beth, who teaches me what a Jewish mother really is.

Beth approaches Judaism with a sense of joy and celebration that I never experienced growing up. My context for Judaism involved food, the Jewish High Holy Days and the horrors of anti-Semitism.

A love of Jewish music permeates my daughter-in-law's home. To watch her and my 4-year-old grandson dance around the Shabbat table singing "Shabbat Shalom" is to put the joy back into the Jewish grandmother. One of my grandson's first words was "ba-ah-ah" (trans: "sing Bashanah Haba'a). The Shabbat table for my grandson is on par with seeing a fire truck turn the corner.

I revel in watching their joint enthusiasm over lighting the Shabbat candles. My grandson covers his eyes and chants Baruch atah Adonai along with his mom. I'm constantly amazed at the love with which my daughter-in-law passes on the preciousness of Judaism to another generation.

They say that you learn by seeing not by being told. As I watch my daughter-in-law transfer her joy of Judaism to my grandson, some of that joy rubs off on me. And Judaism becomes a celebration that my daughter-in-law and I and our whole family are learning to rejoice in.