What psychological factors may be responsible for shaping Jewish identity among Jewish youth around the world? In the coming days a group of researchers from Bar-Ilan University?s Ruth and Baruch Rappaport Center for the Study of Assimilation will set out to four communities in the Diaspora in Mexico, Florida, Marseilles, and Tashkent -- to begin gathering clues as to the psychological roots of assimilation. The researchers will also attempt to devise solutions to the growing problem that are tailored to the wide range of cultures in which Jewish youth around the world live. Bar-Ilan University psychologists Prof. Mario Mikulincer and Dr. Donna Prag are directing the research project.
Prof. Zvi Zohar, Director of the Rappaport Center, says the Center?s purpose is not solely academic, but also applied in nature, with the overall aim of crystallizing ideas and programs to implement among Jewish communities, in order to reduce assimilation and strengthen Jewish identity. The innovative premise from which all of the Center?s research emerges is that the Jewish world must be examined from the inside, as opposed to pointing fingers of blame for assimilation on external social and environmental factors. The Center is interdisciplinary in nature, drawing upon the expertise of Bar-Ilan University researchers from a broad range of disciplines such as psychology, law, sociology, philosophy, education, Jewish studies and more.
The research project ?Four Communities? is being carried out by researchers from the psychology field in order to understand the meaning youth attribute to being Jews. They are conducting in-depth inquiries into the psychological factors that shape Jewish identity among adolescents, who, at this stage of their lives, are engaged in a search for their own identity. Researchers who will meet with the youth in the four communities will attempt, through in-depth interviews with them, to locate the elements of Judaism that either attract or repel youth with regards to Judaism.
This new research will ask its respondents for the first time about their experiences being Jewish, what attracts them to Judaism, and what about Judaism they dislike. ?We believe that the answers to these questions will enable us to begin suggesting solutions and programs which will help us cope with the problem,? says Dr. Donna Prag, research director.
Prof. Zvi Zohar, Director of the Rappaport Center, says the Center?s purpose is not solely academic, but also applied in nature, with the overall aim of crystallizing ideas and programs to implement among Jewish communities, in order to reduce assimilation and strengthen Jewish identity. The innovative premise from which all of the Center?s research emerges is that the Jewish world must be examined from the inside, as opposed to pointing fingers of blame for assimilation on external social and environmental factors. The Center is interdisciplinary in nature, drawing upon the expertise of Bar-Ilan University researchers from a broad range of disciplines such as psychology, law, sociology, philosophy, education, Jewish studies and more.
The research project ?Four Communities? is being carried out by researchers from the psychology field in order to understand the meaning youth attribute to being Jews. They are conducting in-depth inquiries into the psychological factors that shape Jewish identity among adolescents, who, at this stage of their lives, are engaged in a search for their own identity. Researchers who will meet with the youth in the four communities will attempt, through in-depth interviews with them, to locate the elements of Judaism that either attract or repel youth with regards to Judaism.
This new research will ask its respondents for the first time about their experiences being Jewish, what attracts them to Judaism, and what about Judaism they dislike. ?We believe that the answers to these questions will enable us to begin suggesting solutions and programs which will help us cope with the problem,? says Dr. Donna Prag, research director.