Bulletin: Religion in Israel

Books

• Benjamin Brown and Nissim Leon, eds. The Gdoilim: Leaders who Shaped the Israeli Haredi Jewry (in Hebrew)
• Shai Feraro and James R. Lewis, eds. Contemporary Alternative Spiritualities in Israel
• Yaacov Yadgar, Sovereign Jews: Israel, Zionism, and Judaism

Articles

• Nadia Beider, Religious Practices and Beliefs among Religious Stayers and Religious Switchers in Israeli Judaism
• Arye Edrei, Judaism, Jewish Law, and the Jewish State in Israel
• Yulia Egorova, Lost Tribe Communities, Israel, and Notions of Jewishness
• Shai Feraro, Canaanite Reconstructionism Among Contemporary Israeli Pagans

Report

• Leonard Saxe et al, Under the Chuppah: Rabbinic Officiation and Intermarriage

Event

• Yuval Jobani, Women of the Wall: Negotiating Religion in the Public Sphere, NYU, April 6, 2017

 

 

Bulletin: Israeli Palestinians and Arab Minorities in Israel

Books

Nadim N. Rouhana, Israel and its Palestinian Citizens

 

 

Articles

• Yasmin Aboud-Halabi and Michal Shamai, The Role of Parents in Defining Collective Identity of Arab Adolescents in Israel
• Muhammad Amara, Language, Identity and Conflict: Examining Collective Identity through the Labels of the Palestinians in Israel
• Asnat Dor and Hana Hallifa-Yunnis, Prolonged Coresidence: Israeli Arab Emerging Adults Who Live with Their Parents
• Sfaa Ghnadre-Naser and Eli Somer, The Nakba Experience among Internally Displaced Palestinians in Israel
• Caesar Hakim, Jenny Kurman, and Yohanan Eshel, Stereotype Threat and Stereotype Reactance: Performance of Palestinian Citizens of Israel on Achievement Tests
• Tal Meler, Palestinian-Israeli Single Mothers Accord Motherhood a New Meaning
• Kareem Nasser, Dalia Sachs, and Amalia Sa’ar, A Necessary Evil: Residential Placement of People with Intellectual Disability among the Palestinian Minority in Israel
• Paul S. Rowe, Palestinian Christian Civil Society Organizations and the Survival of the Christian Minority in Israel-Palestine
• Amalia Sa’ar, Alisa C. Lewin, and Dalit Simchai, Feminist Identifications among Jewish and Palestinian Students in Israel
• Maha Sabbah-Karkaby and Haya Stier, Education and Age at Marriage among Palestinian Women in Israel
• Maisa Totry-Fakhoury and Nurit Alfasi, Applying Complexity Theory for Analyzing Arab-Palestinian Towns in Israel
• Ghadir Zreik, David Oppenheim, and Abraham Sagi-Schwartz, Infant Attachment and Maternal Sensitivity in the Arab Minority in Israel

 

New Article: Shalev et al, Change in the Religious Identity of Young Religious Jewish Newlyweds in Israel

Shalev, Ofra, Nehami Baum, and Haya Itzhaky. “Religious Identity in Transition. Processes of Change in the Religious Identity of Young Religious Jewish Newlyweds in Israel.” The Family Journal 24.2 (2015): 132-9.

 
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1066480716628598
 
Abstract

When researchers started to explore the cultural context of marriage, studies about how religious beliefs act within the marriage context have emerged. Most studies focused on Christian population, exploring how religiosity shape the nature of the marital relationship. The present study, however, examined the religious dynamics in one’s religious identity as a result of the transition to matrimony. Using qualitative tools, we interviewed 18 young Israeli Jewish Orthodox couples during their first year of marriage. The study exposes that although both partners come from the same religious group, the transition to marriage creates significant changes in their self-religious identity.

 

 

 

New Article: Erdreich, Palestinian Israeli Women Negotiate Family and Career after the University

Erdreich, Lauren. “The Paths of ‘Return’: Palestinian Israeli Women Negotiate Family and Career after the University.” International Journal of Educational Research (early view; online first).

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2015.11.003

 

Abstract

Based on ethnographic research among Palestinian Israeli university women, this article explores how women reposition themselves in society after university. Continuing the research tradition on educated women’s balance of marriage and career, I consider how this balance is shaped by the political and cultural context. I show how these minority women pave paths of return that both utilize and challenge the ethnic separation between Jewish and Palestinian enclaves in Israel. On a theoretical level, the research shows how women’s uses of higher education simultaneously can be shaped by and work to change macro-structures of society.

 

 

 

New Article: Hakak, Undesirable Relationships’ between Jewish Women and Arab Men

Hakak, Yohai. “Undesirable Relationships’ between Jewish Women and Arab Men: Representation and Discourse in Contemporary Israel.” Ethnic and Racial Studies (early view; online first).

 

URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2015.1103877

 

Abstract

Demography has been broadly considered as a key aspect of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. On the Jewish side, State intervention to encourage Jewish immigration and Jewish births is well known. Much less known are the efforts to discourage inter-faith relations. These ‘problematic relationships’ between Arab men and Jewish women from low socio-economic backgrounds have become a high priority item in public discussions over the last decade. In this article I will explore the main discursive practices used in this heated debate by those opposing these relationships. ‘Moral panic’ as a theoretical framework will help me analyse the ways in which Jewish women and Arab men who engage in such relations are presented. As I will show, attempts to criminalize and vilify Arab men meet with strong opposition. Presenting Jewish women as weak and passive victims seems as a more successful strategy, especially when done by professionals from the psych-professions.

 

 

 

New Article: Segal-Engelchin et al, Early Marriage Perspectives of Engaged and Married Muslim Women in Israel

Segal-Engelchin, Dorit, Efrat Huss, and Najlaa Massry. “The Experience of Early Marriage Perspectives of Engaged and Married Muslim Women in Israel.” Journal of Adolescent Research (2015).

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0743558415605167

 

Abstract

The negative impact of early marriage on girls’ psychosocial well-being is well documented in the literature, but little is known about the girls’ motivations and experiences within marriage. A phenomenological case study approach, combining artwork and semi-structured interviews, was used to investigate the motivations and experiences of early marriage among 10 engaged and married young Muslim women who married young in Israel. The findings regarding the engaged women point to their decision to use marriage as a way to fulfill their need for freedom, their wish to experience love in a culturally respectable frame, and to escape from poverty and from difficult family. Conversely, the married women’s narratives point to the heavy price and limited benefits of early marriage, in creating intense new problems and not providing relief from former problems. The regret over having not studied, intense loneliness, lack of money, and the search for a more respect-based marriage are predominant themes. The financial and social motivations for marriage found among the women studied suggest that in their decision to marry young, they were not passive victims of love or society but were rather taking an active pragmatic decision within the very limited options open to them.

 

 

Reviews: Ben-Porat, Between State and Synagogue

Ben-Porat, Guy. Between State and Synagogue: The Secularization of Contemporary Israel. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013.

 

Reviews

• Lassen, Amos. “The Times They Are A-Changing.” Reviews by Amos Lassen, April 7, 2013.
• Tabory, Ephraim. “Review.” Middle East Journal 67.4 (2013): 646-7.
• Omer, Atalia. “Review.” American Journal of Sociology 119.5 (2014): 1518-1520.
• Sorek, Tamir. “Review.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 46.2 (2015): 421-2.
• Weiss, Shayna. “Review.” Journal of Church and State 57.3 (2015): 565-7.
• Hollander, Philip. “Judaism in Israel.” VCU Menorah Review 82 (Winter/Spring 2015).

 

 

 

New Article: Shalev et al, Mate Selection Patterns in Modern Orthodox Society

Shalev, Ofra, Nehami Baum, and Haya Itzhaky. “‘Whose Marriage is this?’ – Mate Selection Patterns in Modern Orthodox Society in Israel: A Dialogue between Two Cultural Systems.” Journal of Psychology and Psychotherapy 5.3 (2015).

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2161-0487.1000181

 

Abstract

In modern societies, mate selection process has received extensive attention in the theoretical and research literature. Researchers were primarily concentrated in identifying the parameters that motivate and influence the choice of partner, as similarity, mutual benefits, and emotional aspects. Little attention, however, was given to the social and cultural context under which the selection process takes place. The present study attempted to explore this process among Modern Orthodox couples in Israel, as they combine two simultaneous cultural systems; modern and traditional. 36 in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with couples during their first year of marriage. The analysis revealed several mate selection styles, which were classified into two main groups: the “cognitive selectors” and the “emotional selectors”. Both groups relate to their social context as a main factor in their selection process and outcome. The study findings throw light on the cultural complexity and duality of parallel value systems.

 

 

New Article: Sharkia et al, Changes in Marriage Patterns among the Arab Community in Israel over a 60-Year Period

Sharkia, Rajech, Muhammad Mahajnah, Esmael Athamny, Mohammad Khatib, Ahmad Sheikh-Muhammad, and Abdelnaser Zalan. “Changes in Marriage Patterns among the Arab Community in Israel over a 60-Year Period.” Journal of Biosocial Science (early view; online first).

 
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0021932015000103

 
Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and trends of various types of consanguineous marriage among the Arab community in Israel over a long time period (1948–2007) by religion and educational level. Data were collected by face-to-face interview of 3173 Arab couples living in Israel in 2007 and 2008. The trend in consanguineous marriages was found to decrease significantly over successive time periods, from 42.5% to 30.9% (p=0.001), and the prevalence of first-cousin and closer marriages decreased, from 23% to 12.7%. Consanguinity was found to be significantly related to religion (p=0.001) and wife’s level of education (p=0.028).

 
 
 
 

CFP: Child and Family in challenging situations: legal issues (Ono Academic College, apply by April 30, 2015)

Click here for a PDF file of this announcement.

Notice of Academic Symposium and Call for Papers

“Child and Family in challenging situations: legal issues”

June 9-10, 2015, Ono Academic College Faculty of Law, Kiryat Ono (Israel)

The International Academy for the Study of the Jurisprudence of the Family (“IASJF”) is pleased to announce that it will hold its 8th international symposium on the jurisprudence of the family on on Tuesday and Wednesday, June 9-10, 2015, at Ono Academic College Faculty of Law, Kiryat Ono, Israel. The topic of the symposium is “Child and Family in Challenging Situations: Legal Issues.” The Symposium will address the issues related to the topic from a juridical point of view; interdisciplinary presentations are also welcome.

Kiryat Ono, Israel, is in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, and approximately 50 minutes’ drive from Jerusalem. The Ono Faculty of Law is Israel’s largest law school with 50 full-time faculty members including two full-time Family Law faculty: Dr. Yitshak Cohen and Dr. Yoav Mazeh, who are the hosts of this symposium. The symposium will be followed with an organized tour to the Old City of Jerusalem, which will take place on Thursday, June 11th.

The International Academy (IASJF), is an independent, interdisciplinary scholarly society that seeks to promote thoughtful consideration and discussion of the foundations of the family, including marriage, parenting, extended and other family relations. Our website is at: http://www.iasjf.org/. The IASFJ has previously hosted academic symposia at Boston College Law School in Boston, Massachusetts, USA; at Bratislava Law School of Pan-European University in Bratislava, Slovakia; at Pontifical Catholic University of Buenos Aires in Buenos Aires, Argentina; at the University of Malta in Valletta, Malta; in Doha, Qatar (hosted by the Doha International Institute for Family Studies and Development); at Cardozo Law School, New York City, USA; and at University of La Coruña, Spain. The IASFJ sponsors the International Journal of the Jurisprudence of the Family (“IJJF”), which is published in both print editions and in HeinOnline. Papers from prior symposia have been published in the IJJF; and selected submitted papers from the 2015 Symposium will be published in Volume 6 of the IJJF.

A person wishing to present a scholarly paper at the symposium should submit a short abstract of the paper they propose (no more than one page) including a working title, the identity, institutional affiliation and full contact information of the author(s), and a brief description of the paper proposed. Proposals should be sent to Professor Lynn D. Wardle (BYU, US) at wardlel@law.byu.edu, to Professor Carlos Martínez de Aguirre (University of Zaragoza, Spain) at aguirre@unizar.es, or to Dr. Yitshak Cohen (Ono Academic College, Israel) at Itshak_c@ono.ac.il , by April 30, 2015. Acceptances will be on a rolling basis. All symposium participants must register ($ 80 for Academy members, $ 120 for non-members, plus $ 40 late fee after 31 March 2015) and pay for their own transportation and hotel. The fee includes all symposium meals. Please, check for updated news about this symposium on http://www.iasjf.org/.

New Article: Kulik and Kitaichik, Marital Intimacy ad Gender Roles: Israeli Husbands and Wives

Kulik, Liat and Danielle Kitaichik. “Marital Intimacy and Selected Correlates of Gender Roles: A Comparative Analysis of Israeli Husbands and Wives.” Women’s Studies 43.6 (2014): 823-42.

 

URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00497878.2014.921509

 

 

Excerpt

In light of the finding that a liberal gender role ideology increases the sense of intimacy among husbands as well as among wives—and because men typically tend to maintain a more traditional gender role ideology than women do—marital counselors should encourage the adoption of a liberal gender role ideology not only as a goal in itself but also as a means of enhancing marital intimacy among husbands and wives.

Moreover, in the process of intervention, counselors should adopt an approach that emphasizes that if women are nurturing and compassionate they can also assert power and feel empowered in the marital relationship. Most important, the counseling approach should be based on the perception of the new woman, which combines both feminine and masculine characteristics as expressed in the term “agency in community.” Apparently, the challenge that counselors face today is to help women find the appropriate balance in the application of this concept in their daily lives.

New Book: Fuchs, Israeli Feminist Scholarship

Fuchs, Esther, ed. Israeli Feminist Scholarship. Gender, Zionism, and Difference. Austin, TX : University of Texas Press, 2014.

More than a dozen scholars give voice to cutting-edge postcolonial trends (from ecofeminism to gender identity in family life) that question traditional approaches to Zionism while highlighting nationalism as the core issue of Israeli feminist scholarship today.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction. Israeli Feminist Scholarship: Gender, Zionism, and Difference

Esther Fuchs

Chapter One. The Evolution of Critical Paradigms in Israeli Feminist Scholarship: A Theoretical Model

Esther Fuchs

Chapter Two. Politicizing Masculinities: Shahada and Haganah

Sheila H. Katz

Chapter Three. The Double or Multiple Image of the New Hebrew Woman

Margalit Shilo

Chapter Four. The Heroism of Hannah Senesz: An Exercise in Creating Collective National Memory in the State of Israel

Judith T. Baumel

Chapter Five. The Feminisation of Stigma in the Relationship Between Israelis and Shoah Survivors

Ronit Lentin

Chapter Six. Gendering Military Service in the Israel Defense Forces

Dafna N. Izraeli

Chapter Seven. The Halachic Trap: Marriage and Family Life

Ruth Halperin-Kaddari

Chapter Eight. Motherhood as a National Mission: The Construction of Womanhood in the Legal Discourse in Israel

Nitza Berkovitch

Chapter Nine. No Home at Home: Women’s Fiction vs. Zionist Practice

Yaffah Berlovitz

Chapter Ten. Wasteland Revisited: An Ecofeminist Strategy

Hannah Naveh

Chapter Eleven. Tensions in Israeli Feminism: The Mizrahi-Ashkenazi Rift

Henriette Dahan-Kalev

Chapter Twelve. Scholarship, Identity, and Power: Mizrahi Women in Israel

Pnina Motzafi-Haller

Chapter Thirteen. Reexamining Femicide: Breaking the Silence and Crossing “Scientific” Borders

Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian

Chapter Fourteen. The Construction of Lesbianism as Nonissue in Israel

Erella Shadmi

Chapter Fifteen. From Gender to Genders: Feminists Read Women’s Locations in Israeli Society

Hanna Herzog

Acknowledgments

Contributors

Index

 

Purchase from publisher: https://utpress.utexas.edu/index.php/books/fucisr

Reviews: Kanaaneh and Nusair, eds. Displaced at Home

Kanaaneh, Rhoda Ann and Isis Nusair, eds. Displaced at Home. Ethnicity and Gender among Palestinians in Israel. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 2010.

Reviews

• Sa’ar, Amalia. “Review.” Review of Middle East Studies 45.1 (2011): 113-115.
• Bachal, Lauren, et al. “Review.” Contemporary Sociology 40.5 (2011): 639-40.
• Gluck, Sherna Berger. “New Directions in Palestinian Oral History.” Oral History Review 39.1 (2012): 100-111.
• Vivier, Elmé. “Review.” Journal of International Women’s Studies 13.3 (2012): 203-207.
• Arar, Khalid. “Review.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 40.2 (2013): 227-30.

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Cite: Schellekens and Gliksberg, Inflation and Marriage in Israel

Schellekens, Jona and David Gliksberg. “Inflation and Marriage in Israel.” Journal of Family History 38.1 (2013): 78-93.

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URL: http://jfh.sagepub.com/content/38/1/78.abstract

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Abstract

At the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s, inflation in Israel exceeded 100 percent. Using the twenty percent samples of the 1972, 1983, 1995, and 2008 Israeli Census, we show that inflation had a substantial negative effect on the decision to marry. More specifically, we show that high inflation influenced marriage by creating economic uncertainty. Without the episode of high inflation, the decline in marriage would have been delayed for several years. We also show that there were educational differences in the effect of inflation on marriage formation.

Cite: Kaplan, Enforcement of Divorce Judgments in Jewish Courts in Israel

Kaplan, Yehiel S. “Enforcement of Divorce Judgments in Jewish Courts in Israel: The Interaction Between Religious and Constitutional Law.” Middle East Law and Governance 4.1 (2012): 1-68.

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URL: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/brill/melg/2012/00000004/00000001/art00001

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Abstract

In the State of Israel, Rabbinical courts are granted sole jurisdiction in the adjudication of marriage and divorce of Jews. In these courts, the husband presents the divorce writ of Jews, the get, to his wife on the occasion of their divorce at the end of the adjudication process. When Jews sue for divorce in Rabbinical courts, the courts occasionally determine that the man should grant his wife a get or that the wife should accept the get granted by her husband. Sometimes one spouse disobeys the ruling. Although the Rabbinical courts occasionally impose sanctions in an attempt to enforce divorce judgments, they are generally reluctant to do so. The implementation of inappropriate measures can lead to the conclusion that a given divorce is in fact a legally ineffectual coerced divorce. Consequently, the Jewish courts occasionally delay the imposition of these sanctions out of concern that inappropriate coercive measures invalidate the get, rendering the couple still legally married. The Supreme Court of Israel has ruled, though, that the Rabbinical courts in Israel should act in light of the constitutional principles in Basic Law: Human Dignity and Freedom. However, the Supreme Court of Israel has not clearly or specifically addressed the balance between the rights and obligations of the husband and wife in the process of enforcing divorce judgments, neither before nor after the enactment of the of the two important constitutional Basic Laws enacted in 1992. A detailed policy analysis of the sanctions against recalcitrant spouses in Rabbinical courts in Israel—in light of the principles of Jewish and constitutional law in the country—has not yet been undertaken. The aim of this essay is therefore to present the appropriate formula pertaining to the imposition of sanctions against recalcitrant spouses given the principles of Jewish and constitutional law. The formula is presented in light of constitutional law in Israel. However, it is also applicable in other countries with similar constitutional legislation, such as Canada, where legislation sometimes allows for the civil enforcement of Jewish divorce.