Search results for: Jewish identity

In response to a recent Jerusalem Post article, Rabbi Daniel Brenner, Executive Director of Birthright Israel NEXT, describes the efforts being made by his organization to involve Taglit-Birthright graduates in Jewish communal life. The programming covers four main areas: Shabbat hospitality, Hebrew language learning, deepening the Israel connection and encouraging community involvement.

Yeshiva University recently announced that 20 outstanding tenth graders from the Yeshiva University high schools – 10 from the Yeshiva University High School for Boys/Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy (YUHSB) and 10 from the Samuel H. Wang Yeshiva University High School for Girls (YUHSG) – will be participating in a unique six-week student exchange program with Israeli high schools. Now in its second year, the program aims to immerse the American students in Israeli culture and help them connect with their Israeli counterparts.

The present study examined the way in which children attending Orthodox Jewish schools internalize the value of both their Jewish studies and secular studies, as well as the value of Jewish cultural practices. A distinction was made between identified internalization, where children perceive Jewish studies and Jewish culture to be an important part of their sense of self, and introjected internalization, where children participate in Jewish studies and Jewish culture because they feel like they “ought to” or because of external pressures. Primary identified reasons for their Jewish studies and Jewish cultural practices were significantly associated with positive self and teacher ratings of adjustment; internalization of secular studies was unrelated to adjustment.

The authors report results from a study designed to address three questions:1) How broad-based is alienation from Israel among young American Jews?2) Can the gap in support for Israel between younger and older American Jews be explained as a (temporary) life-cycle phenomenon? 3) Are the age-related variations related, as many believe, to political (i.e., left-of-center) orientations? Or are other factors more critical? The authors find that these trends are related more to age-cohort (year of birth) than to stage of life. But the authors find no evidence to suggest that political affiliation is related to alienation from Israel among young American Jews.