Responses from 93 of 100 Arab and Jewish social work students in Israel identified ethnicity as the primary factor in motivation for working with elderly people. Arab students had a significantly higher degree of motivation. A secondary factor was a venerating or modernist attitude toward the aged. (SK)

Examines Judeo-Spanish in the light of language death/shift/revival theories, focusing on the Turkish Jews living in Istanbul who form the largest Jewish community in Turkey. Analysis focuses on dominant Eurocentric discourse each language carried, and their influence on the present linguistic situation in the Turkish Jewish community. (Author/VWL)

Until recently, schools in Poland have done little to discourage anti-Semitism and have not taught about the Holocaust nor explained why there are virtually no Jews in Poland. Curriculum modifications in the next school year will introduce the subject at the elementary-school level. (SLD)

The role of the school curriculum in multicultural societies is a central issue in the sociology of education. One of the main debates has to do with the relationship between education for multiculturalism and the use of curriculum for shaping the collective memory and strengthening the national ethos. This article deals with the state of…

The challenge of teaching classic religious texts with flawed moral messages from a contemporary point of view is examined in the case of the Beautiful Captive of War (Deuteronomy 21:10-14). A moral dilemma is generated by contradictory ethical stands within the Jewish tradition, between which students have to choose. This dilemma is explored in…

We examine the effects of an adult member's religious difference and geographic distance on intergenerational family continuity, using the case example of American Jewish mothers with daughters who became Orthodox and moved to Israel. Using qualitative data from a focus group with 6 women who became Orthodox and moved to Israel and separate…

Teaching about the Holocaust is an emotional process that can be extremely difficult, especially without the proper resources. Most teachers spend one or two class periods on the Holocaust and usually cram the lesson into a unit on World War II. As a teacher, the author understands that time is short and that it is impossible to spend the…

This article explores how the role of educational leadership can significantly enhance adult Jewish learning experiences through an in-depth examination of the position of site director at the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School, a two-year program of adult Jewish learning operating at more than sixty sites across North America. Applying the…

As a lover of language and literature, as a serious yet secular Jew, and as a long-time educator in Jewish schools who strives to implement the best practices possible, the author found herself in an educational trap. Typically, even in liberal Jewish practice, Written Law, i.e. the Torah, and Oral Law, i.e. the rabbinic commentaries, are tightly…

Crime seriousness studies have consistently shown wide consensus regarding the high perceived seriousness of violent offenses. However, socio-cultural models suggest wide variability between social groups with regard to the seriousness of certain types of violent crime. This is particularly true in the case of male violence against female intimate…

This paper presents sociological analysis of the linguistic and cultural identity of two of Israel's most influential and high-ranked universities during their formative years, that were also the "de facto" formative years of the Israeli state-in-the-making (1924-1948). We argue that the influence of external universal factors on a…

The recent growth of Jewish day schools in the United States and United Kingdom has consistently been attributed to the declining appeal of public education among minority groups in general and the Jewish community in particular. In this article I review the interpretative heuristic that lies behind this claim, and ask whether this heuristic…

Ben-Avie and Comer describe how Jewish day schools and the Yale Child Study Center's School Development Program (SDP) share a common agenda regarding the aim of education. The foundational science of education is child development, advocates James P. Comer in such seminal works as "School Power" (1980) and "Waiting For A Miracle" (1998). SDP, the…

Jon Levisohn's perceptive study of the Fox, Scheffler, and Marom "Visions of Jewish Education" volume manages both to pay tribute to the book's enormous contribution and to raise a number of serious intellectual issues that call for further reflection and analysis. His clear writing and educational insight are to be applauded. By raising questions…

This article proposes to read events of the educational past not as history but as midrash. It juxtaposes an historical account of a watershed experiment in adult education (Franz Rosenzweig's Freie Judisches Lehrhaus) with an ethnographic account of a presently practicing elementary school teacher. These accounts are generically different and…