Community In Israel Research Articles

“I’m 'just' a community pediatrician” views and challenges of pediatricians working in the community in Israel

BackgroundThere are ongoing changes around the world in the training and practice of pediatricians who work in the community. These changes are driven by the understanding that pediatricians are required to provide not only acute primary care but also to address more comprehensive concerns, particularly the ‘new morbidities’. The present study examines the professional identity of Israeli pediatricians in the community in light of these changes, the barriers and challenges to their work and professional adaptations in the field.MethodsWe used a mixed-methods approach, collecting the perspectives of 137 pediatricians who work in the community through an anonymous online survey, followed by in-depth semi-structured interviews with 11 community pediatricians.ResultsThe survey results show that community pediatricians in Israel have limited knowledge on a variety of developmental, behavioral and emotional issues; that they lack working relationships with medical or other professionals; and are rarely engaged with other community services. Three main themes arose from the interviews that support and deepen the survey results: perceptions of the profession (pediatrics in the community vs. community pediatrics), the stature of pediatricians in the community (during residency, the choice to work in the community, their daily work) and barriers and change in community pediatrics (isolation, limited resources and challenges arising from the nature of community work).ConclusionsThe present study sheds light on the professional identity and the day-to-day challenges and successes of pediatricians working in the community. Continuing medical education, providing a supportive framework and professional community, better resources, more time with patients, and tools and opportunities for professional development would help pediatricians who work in the community to overcome some of these challenges. The research findings reinforce the need for policy change in the field of community pediatrics with a specific community training curriculum, provision of more resources and ongoing support for pediatricians. This requires partnership between the HMOs, the Ministry of Health, the Scientific Council (Israel Medical Association, professional organizations) and NGOs in order to turn individual-level solutions into system-level and policy-changing solutions.

The complex role of the community in the determination of well-being and hope among divorced Muslim women.

Based on social capital theory, in the current study, we examined the contribution of background variables (education and living with/without parents), a personal resource (religiosity), and two communal resources (a sense of community, and both positive and negative societal conditional regard) to the well-being and hope of divorced women from the Muslim community in Israel. The study included 125 women between the ages of 20 and 60 (M = 36, SD = 9.10). A path analysis model indicated a sense of community as a protective factor that directly contributed to well-being and hope and also mediated positively between education and religiosity and between well-being and hope. However, societal conditional negative regard (SCNR) made a negative contribution to well-being and hope, both directly and indirectly via the sense of community. In the discussion, we highlight the conflict experienced by Muslim divorced women: between remaining part of the Muslim community and undergoing SCNR.

The effect of volunteer-led activities on the quality of life of volunteers, residents, and employees of a long-term care institution: a cohort study

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic primarily impacted long-term care facilities by restricting visiting and circulation of visitors, affecting the quality of life (QoL) of older adults living in these institutions. Volunteer activities, essential for older adults’ daily life, were also interrupted and potentially negatively impacted the QoL of older adults, volunteers themselves, and also employees in these institutions. In this context, this study aims to evaluate the impact of the return of volunteer-led activities in a long-term care institution on the QoL of older adult residents, employees, and volunteers.MethodsThis study used a pre-test and post-test design within the same group. The first round of data collection was conducted before volunteer-led activities returned and the second round after 1 month of return. The instrument used to assess QoL was the EUROHIS-QoL-8 scale. This study was conducted within a nursing home in São Paulo, Brazil, created in 1937 by members of the Israeli community living in Brazil. Volunteer-led activities were part of residents’ daily life before the COVID-19 pandemic, when these activities were interrupted for about 20 months. A total of 79 individuals participated in both rounds (pre and post), of which: 29 residents, 27 volunteers, and 23 employees of the long-term care institution.ResultsUsing a Wilcoxon signed-rank test, the analyses indicated improvements after the 1 month return in different QoL aspects for the three groups. Volunteers improved their personal relationships (Z − 2.332, p < .05), residents their overall health (Z − 2.409, p < .05) and employees in their overall QoL perception (Z − 2.714, p < .05). Influencing factors for residents were the number of activities (3 or more), gender (male), and education (undergraduate/graduate). For employees, those who assumed additional activities due to the volunteer-led activities interruption had a significant impact on their overall QoL.ConclusionsEvidence from this study suggests that volunteers’ return positively impacted different QoL aspects for volunteers, residents, and employees.

Ecological change, psychological mindedness, and attitudes toward school psychology: a three-generation study of Bedouin women in Israel

The ecologies of Bedouin communities in Israel have changed in recent generations. This mixed-method study examines how such changes have augmented psychological mindedness and a willingness to accept professional psychological help. Twenty-one adolescent girls, their mothers, and their grandmothers responded to dilemmas regarding aspects of psychological knowledge and practice. We expected that ecological change, such as increased Bedouin participation in the Israeli school system through high school, would be associated with greater psychological mindedness. Quantitative analyses of all participants and qualitative analyses of three families each indicated that daughters and mothers accepted psychology as a source of knowledge, accepted psychological intervention, and were willing to share mental health problems outside the family to a greater degree than grandmothers, who preferred religious authorities, older family members for help, and secrecy. Qualitative analyses revealed that mothers were mediating a transition between the perspective of grandmothers and perspective of their daughters.

An ambivalent story: Queer children’s literature in Israel between 1986 and 2022

Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, only 23 Queer literary works have been published for children and adolescents in Hebrew. This paper examines the characteristics of these works in light of the ambivalent and controversial status of the LGBTQ+ community in Israel. The findings show that the few works that have been published and that present same-sex families or LGBTQ+ characters, and the manner in which Queer themes are presented in those texts, are in line with how these issues are perceived and addressed by Israeli society. Moreover, this article divides the Queer Israeli literature for children and youth into three categories: implied Queer literature that hides the Queer existence through the allegoric genre; Queer-phobic literature that seemingly presents the Queer family but in actual fact promotes homophobic stereotypes; and Queer literature that places the LGBTQ+ character or family in the center of the story without passing judgment or criticism.

“The problem is that a kibbutz is standing in front of you and you have no name or face for it”: Child sexual abuse risk factors and disclosure in the collective kibbutz community

The socio-cultural context is a significant factor in understanding the phenomenon of child sexual abuse (CSA). The kibbutz is a unique form of community in Israel, which was previously a closed community with high cohesion and close personal connections between its members, who shared common beliefs and values. This study aimed to examine the experiences and perspectives of adults who had been sexually abused as children in the kibbutz. Fifteen adults (14 women and one man) sexually abused as children in a kibbutz between the 1960s and 1990s were interviewed for the study. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted and analyzed according to the thematic analysis approach. The findings indicated that participants perceived the kibbutz as an independent and distinct entity in the CSA experience. Furthermore, due to the image of the kibbutz community, the wish to protect its reputation, and the trust and familiarity among the kibbutz community, CSA was denied and silenced. The participants discussed the kibbutz’s responsibility for CSA and the hardship of acknowledging that CSA happened at the Kibbutz. This study contributes significantly to the testimony and giving voice to survivors of CSA in kibbutz whose voices have not been heard. Despite the changes that have taken place in the kibbutz over the years, as well as the increased awareness of protection against sexual abuse, there is still room to acknowledge and validate past abuse experiences and apologize to the survivors, as well as risks for CSA that are still prevalent today.

"To a Tanya Lesson in High-Heeled Shoes": Observance, Modernity and Deviance in the Moscow Chabad Community

Abstract: After the seventy-year break in religious life under the Soviet regime, Jewish communities in Russia revived and multiplied, now consisting mostly of new "returnees to the faith," ba'alei and ba'alot teshuvah . This article, based on biographical interviews and other sources, examines the outlook, self-image and everyday life of women "returnees," ba'alot teshuvah , in a contemporary community of Lubavitch Hasidim in Moscow. Chabad women's claims to modernity and their understanding of it, their view of their community and the social hierarchies in it, and their prioritizing of religious practice over meaning and of action over belief are examined in the contexts of women's religiosity in historical Hasidism, in present-day ultra-Orthodox communities in Israel and America, and in other traditional cultures (focusing on the "alternative modernity" of voluntarily traditional subjects) and in light of Lubavitch movement policies, late Soviet "authoritative discourse" and the current Russian move toward "conservative modernization."

"To a Tanya Lesson in High-Heeled Shoes": Observance, Modernity and Deviance in the Moscow Chabad Community

Abstract: After the seventy-year break in religious life under the Soviet regime, Jewish communities in Russia revived and multiplied, now consisting mostly of new "returnees to the faith," ba'alei and ba'alot teshuvah . This article, based on biographical interviews and other sources, examines the outlook, self-image and everyday life of women "returnees," ba'alot teshuvah , in a contemporary community of Lubavitch Hasidim in Moscow. Chabad women's claims to modernity and their understanding of it, their view of their community and the social hierarchies in it, and their prioritizing of religious practice over meaning and of action over belief are examined in the contexts of women's religiosity in historical Hasidism, in present-day ultra-Orthodox communities in Israel and America, and in other traditional cultures (focusing on the "alternative modernity" of voluntarily traditional subjects) and in light of Lubavitch movement policies, late Soviet "authoritative discourse" and the current Russian move toward "conservative modernization."

Palestinian and Jewish public representatives' attitudes toward violence in the Palestinian community in Israel: Conspiracy and cultural violence perspectives

In the last decade, the spread of the violence became one of the most worrying phenomena in the Palestinian Arab community in Israel. This article focuses on the violence where victims and offenders come from Palestinian Arab community in Israel. Its purpose is to review the attitudes of the public figures in the Jewish and the Palestinian Arab communities of the country regarding the violence in the latter community through the lens of the conspiracy and the cultural violence theories. The review shows that some leaders of the Palestinian Arab community tend to refer to the persistence of violence and crime in their community in a cospirative way. Their key claim is that the state authorities intentionally neglect this phenomenon and possibly have some sinister goal behind this way of conduction. In contrast, public representatives of the Jewish community tend to refer to the persistence of violence and crime in Palestinian Arab community in cultural terms. Their key claim is that violence in Palestinian Arab community is deeply rooted in the culture of this community. The review suggests that the attitudes reflect the discourse around the “blaming the victim” concept, whereas representatives of the hegemonic Jewish majority use this tactic in their cultural violence rhetoric, and representatives of the dispossessed Palestinian Arab minority complain against it using the conspiracy beliefs. The review is concluded with broad implications for the Israeli society.

Spectrum of Response Styles in a Religious-Orthodox Community to Civilian Disasters: The Responses of the Haredi Community to the Meron Crowd Crush (2021) as a Case Study

Over the past few decades the Haredi community has been expanding and it includes a diversity of groups characterized by wide margins, therefore it may be considered an imagined community. On Lag Ba’Omer 2021, 45 people died, and over 150 were injured in the Meron Crowd Crush, most of them from the diverse Haredi community in Israel. Coping with disasters in a religious community includes a religious-faith level, and a social level. In this study, we will examine the response styles to a disaster in the Haredi community, as a case study of religious communities coping with a civilian disaster. This study will assist in understanding the community’s narrative, and the place of the community in coping with a disaster. The study uses the qualitative-constructivist method and applies a categorical analysis of 1146 verbal responses to an internet survey that was conducted subsequent to the disaster. We propose a theoretical-categorical model that divides the responses into five pairs of categories: Emotional, Religious, Spiritual-Transcendental, Social, and Civil responses, each pair divided into past and future. Emotional responses: expressing grief and mourning (past), or paralysis, anxiety, and instability, (future); Religious responses: search for a religious reason (past), or a call for religious strengthening (future); Spiritual-Transcendent responses: dealing with questions of faith (past), or viewing the disaster as a transcendent message, and seeking spiritual comfort (future); Social-Spiritual responses: attributing the disaster to collective punishment due to ‘corruption’ (past), or recommendations for ‘correction’ of the social world (future); Civil responses: including searching for deficiencies, blaming entities (past), or suggestions for improvements and correction of deficiencies (future). We discussed a spectrum of response styles, while distinguishing between responses that are concerned with finding a reason or explanation for the disaster (past), and those who wish to draw a conclusion (future). Furthermore, social injustices are seen as religious offenses that led to the disaster. That is, it is a religious soul-searching that deals, less with traditional offenses and more with social injustices. We also discussed the volume of the different responses: In the emotional reactions and civil reactions, the Past Category is larger than the Future, whereas in the religious and spiritual responses, the Future categories are larger. This finding may symbolize a tendency to channel the pain in a positive way to a practical and active direction. Religious actions provide a sense of agency and self-efficacy. At last, we noticed that the disaster led to the strengthening of the community and sense of community, despite its size and diversity; as well, we suggested that the findings regarding religious-orthodox communities and their coping with disasters can be inferred.

Community organizing during the COVID-19 pandemic: How should we act when it comes to minority communities?

Minority communities have borne a disproportionate burden of adverse health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Notwithstanding, there is a lack of empirical evidence regarding efforts to reduce health inequalities through community organizing. It is also unclear under what conditions professionals act as external assistance providers for community organizing as part of their role. Through multimethod research conducted among social workers who provide services to ultra-Orthodox minority communities in Israel during the pandemic, this study identified that the combination of critical awareness of social justice, weakened social cohesion, and work environment expectations led professionals to assist communities in their community organizing efforts. These strategies include an intercommunity component-building trust in the community and promoting collective efficacy; an interactional component-creating multidimensional platforms that support action; and a behavioral component-increasing the involvement of communities in decision-making spaces in public arenas. The crucial characteristic of providing assistance and support in community organizing lies in the adoption of cultural perspectives. It requires knowledge about and familiarity with the different types of communities within which the professionals operate. This vital understanding can promote critical awareness among a wide range of professionals to promote health equity at the present time when the pandemic is still ongoing.

Migrant language and identity in the Spanish-speaking community in Israel

AbstractSpanish has a considerable presence in the socio-cultural mosaic of Israel, a country made up of ethnolinguistic communities from different parts of the world. However, language policy has not always integrated the study of languages as a source of interculturality. This paper summarizes the results of the first stage of a broader investigation into the linguistic practices and strategies developed by Spanish-speaking families to acquire and preserve the migrant language, as a way of transmitting the heritage, identity and culture of the country of origin in the face of the influence of the majority language, Hebrew. To this end, individual interviews were conducted to record specific data on the Spanish-speaking community and, particularly, the presence of Spanish as a vehicular language through the identification of sociocultural references among families who arrived under the Law of Return and include members who are 15 years of age or younger. The surveys reflect that the interest and affective need to preserve the language are main motivators in these Spanish-speaking families. These conclusions served as a basis for in the afore-mentioned group were considered relevant conclusions within the broad objectives of the larger project, which seeks to create a program of intergenerational activities to develop respectful bilingualism and strengthen the community of practice as a space to build the mutant puzzle between the inherited and acquired identity of children and youth.

“We must find a solution now”: The Ethiopian community-police relationships in Israel

Members of the Ethiopian community in Israel are over-represented in the police statistics, and their relations with the police are characterized by low levels of satisfaction. This phenomenological study aimed to explore the relationships between the Israeli-Ethiopian community and the police, through the eyes of young Ethiopian adults and police officers. The data was collected through in-depth interviews with 25 participants: 13 Ethiopian young adults and 12 police officers. The data analysis yielded five themes: personal experiences with Ethiopian community-police encounters, Ethiopian youngsters’ and police officers’ mutual perceptions, police discrimination of Ethiopian youth, Ethiopian community-police relations, and allocating responsibility for changing the situation. The findings are interpreted in terms of Social Identity Theory and Contact Hypothesis and illustrate how the interplay between conflicting groups’ identities and contact in a specific socio-political context shapes their members’ mutual perceptions and affects future encounters. Implications for promoting positive intergroup relations are discussed.

The Sixties Did (Not Altogether) Skip Israel: Rosh Pinna’s Hippie Community

Apparently, the sixties did not skip Israel altogether. The article describes the hippie community of Rosh Pinna, juxtaposing it with concurrent Israeli-Zionist life. The study compares various aspects of the hippie and Zionist ideologies: political-military agendas, spiritual sources of inspiration, music, nativeness, nature, settlement and community, social behavior, and sexuality. There are currently three widespread images of Rosh Pinna: Zionist, touristic, and alternative-spiritual. The study unveils the unknown origins of the first alternative community in Israel, while also presenting some historical events that preceded and contributed to the development of globalist, liberal, and spiritual contemporary trends in Israeli culture.

An Integrated Model for Working with At-Risk Youth—An Emphasis on Girls from Ethiopia

Immigration is a complicated and lengthy transition, and the integration process in the destination country encompasses changes at the individual, community, and societal levels. Immigration signifies a shift in geographic location and an intercultural transition that comprises significant transformations and upheavals in diverse life areas. A combination of the immigration and adolescence crises forms the basis for mental stress and relegation to the fringes of society. Namely, the fusion between physical, social, and cultural changes surrounding the migration process and the distinct signs of puberty make immigrant adolescents a viable population at risk. The number of at-risk youth of Ethiopian origin is substantial concerning the percentage of the Ethiopian community in Israel. Immigration and the challenges of integration affect their assimilation into society and force them to deal with various difficulties in addition to the changes of puberty. The study emphasizes that, unlike otherpopulations, boys and particularly girls of Ethiopian descent lack diverse integration models. Hence, they tend to feel alienation, deprivation, detachment, discrimination, and racism. Therefore, the paper’s purpose is to outline possible ways of dealing with the feeling of alienation and lack of trust in the system. The distress of girls of Ethiopian descent created panic and led to the establishment of a defined intervention plan. The study describes the program’s goals and its various aspects. It focuses on the intervention model, its characteristics, the intervention process, and its implementation. Moreover, it provides tools to effectively deal with the problems of integration and the difficulties of adolescence.

Transnationalism and Hybridity in Religious Practices during the Migration Process: The Zera Beta Israel in Ethiopia and Israel

This article examines the complexity of religious practices and beliefs among a group of Zera Beta Israel (Falash Mura) members before, during, and a decade after their immigration process to Israel. This community, with roots in Judaism, converted to Christianity in the 19th century, complicating their request to immigrate to Israel along with Beta Israel members (Ethiopian Jews who had not converted to Christianity). Following an average 15-year wait in Ethiopian transit camps, they spent about two years in Israeli absorption centres and underwent conversion to rabbinic Judaism. This study aims to elucidate notions of religious, cultural, and oppositional transnationalism through life experiences described by Zera Beta Israel community members. Drawing on transnational theory and an interpretative qualitative approach, it develops and analyses 25 in-depth, semi-structured interviews and conversations conducted with members of the Zera Beta Israel community in Ethiopia and Israel. The findings challenge conventional binary perceptions and conceptual categories, such as Jewish–Christian or religious–secular and demonstrate the fluidity and complexity—the hybridity—that exists in the contexts of religion and immigration.

"Our family sleeps deeply": The Presence of Others During Intrafamilial Child Sexual Abuse as Conveyed By Girls From Diverse Communities in Israel.

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is generally perceived as a crime perpetrated out of sight, without witnesses. Nevertheless, several researchers have explored the presence of others during incidents of abuse in regards to two main aspects: bystanders in extrafamilial CSA and bystanders' decisions whether or not to get involved. However, there is a dearth of knowledge regarding how children who experience abuse perceive and experience the presence of others during abusive incidents. The current study was designed to examine the experiences and perceptions of girls who experienced intrafamilial CSA (IFCSA) with respect to the presence of others, as conveyed during their forensic interviews. A thematic analysis of 24 forensic interviews was conducted with secular Jewish, ultra-Orthodox Jewish, and Muslim Arab girls, aged 4-14. The analysis identified four main themes: (a) the girls' perceptions of others' awareness of them being abused, (b) the girl's experiences of loneliness, (c) the girls' experiences of disclosing to the others present during the abuse, and (d) family dynamics. The discussion highlights the unique, multifaceted and elusive dynamics of IFCSA, calling into question the commonly held view that it happens only in secret. The girls' narratives highlighted their distress and pointed to the abusive and unbearable daily routine in which they live. In spotlighting their encounters with IFCSA, the girls focused on the feelings of guilt, shame, and isolation they experienced.

INTERGENERATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS OF RUSSIAN SPEAKERS IN ISRAEL IN THE SHADOW OF PROPAGANDA: FACEBOOK POSTS ANALYSIS

Abstract Part of the elderly Russian-speaking community in Israel is exposed to the TV channels of the Russian government. These channels are impacted by Russian propaganda and, as such, use false claims and manipulative techniques. The aim of this presentation is to shed light on the impact of Russian media on intergenerational relationships of Russian-speaker families in Israel. We conducted a preliminary qualitative study based on a thematic analysis of Facebook posts (Nf34) from March to June 2022. Analysis revealed four key themes: (1) “Tragedy of many families”, the importance of unity of opinion and the problem of difference, a key element in the emotional well-being (or its lack) of Russian-speaking families at the moment; (2) “It’s useless to explain something”, the perception of older parents who support Putin as victims of “brainwashing”, with comments on “zombies”, totalitarian sects, and psychotropic drugs; (3) “The truth will destroy them”, the perception of disbelief in war as a defensive reaction necessary for the elderly, because the reality may destroy them; (4) “A topic that is not talked about”, a refusal to discuss Ukraine seen as the only way to save the relationship, speaking instead about health issues, daily life issues, and the weather. The findings underline that the Russian-Ukrainian war conflict impacts intergenerational solidarity and closeness, and calls for an intervention that provides support for both the elderly and their adult children.

From Exclusion to Leadership

Israel comprises diverse groups (mostly Jewish), between whom the differences are sometimes greater than the similarities. This frequently leads to social exclusion and discrimination that damages the very basic sense of human security. Scholars agree that cultural misrecognition or exclusion has a deeply negative impact on a person’s mental well-being and sense of security. In this paper, we show how the case of the Ethiopian community in Israel reinforces the understanding that a cultural group’s experiences of exclusion and non-belonging undermine its members’ sense of personal security and has detrimental effects on their well-being. Groups however can sometimes change the course of development. We show that 40 years after the first wave of immigration (Operation Moshe), the Ethiopian community in Israel has chosen a track of change, in which it slowly moves from exclusion to leadership. This idea calls for further study.

The Moderating Effect of Religiousness on the Relation Between Sexual Guilt and Shame and Well-Being Among Jewish Religious Single Men.

Jewish religious singles may feel guilty and ashamed due to sexual behaviors that violate religious law, such as pre-matrimony sexual relations, viewing pornography, and masturbation. This study examined the relation between sexual guilt and shame (SGS) and psychological well-being, and whether this relation was moderated by level of religiousness. It was hypothesized that SGS would be negatively related to psychological well-being and that this relation would be stronger at higher levels of religiousness compared to lower levels of religiousness. Participants were single young-adult men (N = 165, Mage = 23.3) belonging to the national-orthodox Jewish community in Israel who completed online questionnaires. SGS was positively associated with anxiety and depression and negatively associated with life satisfaction. Additionally, the relations between SGS and measures of psychological well-being were moderated by the level of religiousness. However, contrary to the hypothesized moderation effect, SGS was positively related to negative psychological consequences and negatively related to life satisfaction at a low level of religiousness, whereas at a high level of religiousness no significant relationship between SGS and the psychological outcome measures was found. These findings may indicate that there may be adaptive elements in religion that can help an individual cope with SGS, and thus to negate its detrimental effects on psychological well-being.