Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Jewish Studie'

This study conducts a close literary analysis of a variety of Talmudic-era prayers in order to develop a method of interpretation, called the "literary-intertext" method. Drawing on literary theory and the work of intertextuality in biblical and midrashic fields, this method offers a literary reading of prayer texts based on the juxtaposition with biblical intertexts. The method can be described as follows:

Step 1: Approach the liturgical text from a standpoint of exegesis, in which allusions abound and the surface rendering is never satisfactory.

Step 2: Using the tools of philology and academic inquiry, establish as many parallels to the liturgical text as one can to point more clearly to the identification of the intertexts.

Step 3: Identify the biblical intertext or intertexts at play in the line of prayer, and consider the surrounding biblical context.

Step 4: Identify the rabbinic interpretation(s) of the biblical intertext, giving additional layers of meaning to the text behind the prayer text.

Step 5: Offer an interpretation or set of interpretations that relate to the prayer. In the course of this study, we employ this method with the first blessing of the amidah, the blessings that constitute havdalah, and the texts of confession for Yom Kippur. In each case, the multiplicity of interpretations that emerges through the juxtaposition of the prayer text with the biblical intertext (and its rabbinic understanding) extends far beyond the original surface rendering. These interpretations are offered throughout the analysis.

The Jewish community has increasingly relied upon Experiential Education as a pedagogical approach to instilling Jewish identity and communal affiliation over the past twenty years. The Experiential Education format of travel programs has specifically been emphasized and promoted for Jewish Emerging Adults for this purpose, and outcome studies of these trip programs have demonstrated success in instilling identification and affiliation with both the Jewish community and the state of Israel among their participants. However, little is actually empirically known about the processes that impact the participant during the trip experience – the so-called "black box" – or how significant a participant's predisposition towards Israel and Judaism are in how they process their trip experiences. Even less is empirically known about the identity development of Jewish Emerging Adults in large part due to a pre-disposition to study Jews developmentally only as affiliates of a religion rather than members of a distinctly multi-layered group.

This grounded theory study examines participants in two different trip experiences, Taglit Birthright Israel and an Alternative Spring Break, through post-trip interviews. The emergent theory suggests three conclusions: The predisposition of a participant towards their own Jewish identity can influence how they process their experiences on the trip; the actual trip experience can be best understood as repeatedly processing multiple and ongoing experiences within the trip itself; the processing of those experiences can be descriptively modeled as a theory that allows an glimpse in to the "black box." Such a theoretical model can be used to better train trip staff on how the trip experience impacts the Jewish identity of those participants and also to plan trip itineraries to optimize the trip's experiential impact on participant Jewish and Zionist identity and communal affiliation.

Sexual dysfunction is a major clinical and social issue. There has been a lack of research literature exploring the treatment implications involved in conducting sex therapy with Orthodox Jewish couples. Many standard sex therapy treatment interventions are incongruent with the religious beliefs held by Orthodox Jewish individuals regarding what they consider to be sexually appropriate practices. In order to increase the probability of Orthodox clients getting the treatment they need, it is crucial for mental health clinicians to demonstrate a high-level of understanding, awareness, and sensitivity toward their clients' religious beliefs. By fostering a sense of appreciation and understanding of Orthodox Jewish sexual practices, the clinician can then gain the ability to increase their clients' level of trust, safety, comfort, and willingness to participate in the treatment process. This doctoral project explored the issues surrounding the provision of sex therapy to Orthodox Jewish couples, and aimed to bridge the gap between the research literature and clinical practice. The purpose of this project was to increase the level of awareness of mental health professionals regarding how Orthodox Jewish religious beliefs influence views about sexuality, understand the treatment implications that arise during sex therapy with Orthodox couples, and methods of effectively modifying standard sex therapy interventions by incorporating Jewish laws into the therapeutic process. The author also incorporated a summary of the clinical findings obtained from interviews conducted with four expert field consultants who have worked with Orthodox Jewish couples in their practices.

In 1947, the National Panhellenic Conference invited Jewish sororities to join its ranks, constituting the first time in the organization's history that non-Jewish sororities officially recognized their Jewish counterparts. The period of 1947-1964, I argue, became an era based on a new understanding between the Jewish and non-Jewish sororities, a "Gentlewoman's Agreement." This unspoken arrangement offered Jewish sororities unprecedented status in Greek affairs and a more visible presence within student life on college campuses across the country. However, membership came at a cost; the Jewish women had to ensure that their individual organizations' spoken beliefs conformed to those articulated by the larger, socially conservative non-Jewish groups. This significantly impacted the ways in which they responded to civil rights and the anticommunist hysteria that enveloped American society in these years. In addition to offering an appraisal of the ways in which gender shaped Jewish encounters with American higher education, the postwar Jewish sorority experience serves as a previously unexplored entry point into an examination of the limits of Jewish liberalism and provides a reevaluation of Jewish-Christian relationships during the period scholars have deemed the "Golden Age" of American Jewry

My thesis is focused on the formation of Jewish Intentional Communities (JICs) in the United States. What is a Jewish Intentional Community (JIC)? I define a Jewish Intentional Community as a group of households that come together to form a cooperative housing and or shared economic structure. The form of capital exchanged may be labor, land, wisdom, tradition-al knowledge, skills, and or finances.

In this paper I use Grounded Theory to encounter the specific reasons why American Jews choose to live in JICs. JIC is a loose term. As the reader will find in many cases it means a co-housing-kibbutz development, in other cases it's an economic development, a havurah type socially focused development, or in more cases than not, some combination of all.

Kavanah means intentionality. The sages suggest that there is nothing done that is Jewish that is without kavanah, thus community is always an intentional act. Thus, it is well worth not-ing that the idea of a Jewish Intentional Community in Diaspora is nothing short of an ancient concept. Stories within Tanakh speak of making community in exile. In the days before the Inquisition, Sephardic Jews excelled in business, scholarship, and medicine. Prior to the Shoah, Yiddish culture was thriving. In the United States Yiddish Theater is considered a major contributor in contemporary comedy. This thesis delves into the history of the movement, it's influences, and specifically why millennial Jews in America are drawn this way of doing Jewish community.

This dissertation examines how Israel's establishment affected the relationship between Black Americans and American Jews in the United States. It traces the efforts of a group of leading American Jews, in the ranks of Jewish advocacy organizations, academia, show business, and the American Jewish press, who attempted to leverage their personal, political and professional connections with various prominent Black Americans, in order to elicit Black American support for Israel after World War II. It asks in turn, how the targeted Black Americans responded to the pressure they faced from these prominent American Jews.

Relying primarily on previously unexamined archival material, this narrative of the changing relationship between Black Americans, American Jews and Israel, addresses the historical conundrum of why American Jews got involved with Black American civil rights to the extent that they did. In contrast to previous studies, this dissertation argues that American Jewish involvement in Black American civil rights constituted a practical quid pro quo. It thus contradicts past conceptions of American Jewish civil rights contributions as primarily a philanthropic undertaking. When prominent American Jews threw their support behind Black Americans, politically and professionally, in the 1950s and 1960s, they made it clear that in return they both wanted and expected Black American support for their interests, including Israel.

Prominent American Jews including American Jewish Congress's Will Maslow, leading American Rabbi and Zionist Stephen Wise, impresario Sol Hurok, and legendary performer Eddie Cantor, among many others attempted to pressure Black American civil rights leaders, like Walter White and Martin Luther King, the United Nations diplomat Ralph Bunche, and famed performers Lionel Hampton, Marian Anderson, Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Josephine Baker and many more, to support Israel. In the instances when prominent Black Americans agreed to these terms, their fame, success and influence in their respective fields made them some of the most beneficial Israel supporters in the United States. More often than not, however, American Jewish efforts to leverage their relationships to demand support for Israel resulted in tensions and resentment from prominent Black Americans. This dissertation therefore, demonstrates that the late 1960s clashes between Blacks and Jews, which scholars have heretofore identified as the "death-knell of Black-Jewish relations" in the United States, actually reflected tensions that mounted, often over Israel, during the course of the two preceding decades. Ultimately, this dissertation argues, Black Americans' perspectives on Israel, between 1947 and 1970, reflected the changing nature, tone, and significance of their relationships with the American Jews, who sought to influence them.