Jewish Population In Israel Research Articles

Epidemiological data of 290 pemphigus vulgaris patients: a 29-year retrospective study.

Pemphigus vulgaris (PV), an autoimmune blistering disease involving the skin and mucosa, is traditionally considered to be prevalent among Jews, particularly those of Ashkenazi origin. Israel, where the Ashkenazi and non-Ashkenazi Jewish population live alongside a large Arab minority, is a particularly interesting place for epidemiological studies of PV. To characterise the epidemiological and clinical parameters of PV patients from a single tertiary medical centre in Israel. Data was retrieved retrospectively from the medical records of newly diagnosed PV patients referred to the Sheba Medical Center between 1980 and 2009. A total of 290 PV patients were diagnosed during the study period. The mean age at diagnosis was 49.7 years (range: 10-92 years) and a female predominance was identified (1.54:1; p<0.001). Among the Jewish patients, the ratio of Ashkenazi to non-Ashkenazi was 1.23:1, which was not statistically significant in comparison to the ratio of the general Jewish population in Israel (p=0.289). We describe the comorbidities found among the patients. Disease severity at diagnosis was not found to be related to the epidemiological parameters examined. Studies from different countries reveal variations in the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of the disease. The epidemiology of PV in Israel, a Middle-Eastern country with a Western lifestyle and a diverse ethnic population, shows some characteristics that represent an "admixture" between European and Middle-Eastern or Asian countries. The associated comorbidities of PV emphasize the need for dermatologists to keep a high index of suspicion and actively evaluate patients to determine their presence.

Expanding preconception carrier screening for the Jewish population using high throughput microfluidics technology and next generation sequencing.

BackgroundGenetic screening to identify carriers of autosomal recessive diseases has become an integral part of routine prenatal care. In spite of the rapid growth of known mutations, most current screening programs include only a small subset of these mutations, and are performed using diverse molecular techniques, which are generally labor-intensive and time consuming. We examine the implementation of the combined high-throughput technologies of specific target amplification and next generation sequencing (NGS), for expanding the carrier screening program in the Israeli Jewish population as a test case.MethodsWe compiled a panel of 370 germline mutations, causing 120 disorders, previously identified in affected Jewish individuals from different ethnicities. This mutation panel was simultaneously captured in 48 samples using a multiplex PCR-based microfluidics approach followed by NGS, thereby performing 17,760 individual assays in a single experiment.ResultsThe sensitivity (measured with depth of at least 50×) and specificity of the target capture was 98 and 95 % respectively, leaving minimal rate of inconclusive tests per sample tested. 97 % of the targeted mutations present in the samples were correctly identified and validated.ConclusionOur methodology was shown to successfully combine multiplexing of target specific primers, samples indexing and NGS technology for population genetic screens. Moreover, it’s relatively ease of use and flexibility of updating the targets screened, makes it highly suitable for clinical implementation. This protocol was demonstrated in pre-conceptional screening for pan-Jewish individuals, but can be applied to any other population or different sets of mutations.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12920-016-0184-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The mental cleavage of Israeli politics

In societies marked by numerous diversities, like the Jewish-Israeli one, understanding social cleavages might show a larger picture of the group and form a broader comprehension of its characteristics. Most studies concentrate on somewhat conventional cleavages, such as the socioeconomic cleavage, the ethnic cleavage, the religious or the political one; this article, by contrast, suggests a different point of view for the mapping of social cleavages within Israeli society. It claims that the Jewish population in Israel is split into two competing groups: stakeholders versus deprived. These categories of social identity are psychological states of mind in which no matter how the national resources are distributed, the stakeholders will always act as superiors, even if they are in inferior positions, while the deprived will always take the role of eternal underdog even if all of the major political ranks come under their control. This article brings about a review of over a century of ideological debates within the Zionist movement; it reveals how understanding the logic of the Israeli political discourse as a competition between the two newly defined social groups enables a better comprehension of the inherent tension between them.

Evicting Palestine

Israel is engaged in a systematic and illegal scheme of forced evictions against Palestinians. Forced evictions of Palestinians, and the human rights abuses they suffer as a result, are known, and yet largely ignored by the international community. In this article, Penny Green and Amelia Smith expose this crime by documenting the key methods adopted by the Israeli state to achieve the goal of “Evicting Palestine” – village and house demolitions, unrecognizing Bedouin villages, the separation wall, settlement expansion and historical claims to the land. The article is based primarily on extensive fieldwork that the authors carried out in March 2014. The article reveals that these various methods of forced displacement contribute to an over-arching and ongoing process, the primary aim of which is to construct new spaces that exclude Palestinians from their ancestral land in order to expand the Israeli-Jewish population and to increase colonial control and annexation of Palestinian territory.

Individual, Community, and National Resiliencies and Age: Are Older People Less Resilient than Younger Individuals?

The resilience of older and younger Israelis was investigated. A representative sample of the Jewish population in Israel (N = 1,022) was used. The participants were three adult age-groups (18-35, 36-64, and 65+ years). Half of them were women, and they evenly represented left-wing and right-wing political attitudes. Resilience was measured by the ratio of strength and vulnerability of the individual, the community, and the nation. Older participants did not differ from younger people in sense of danger; reported lower level of distress symptoms; and showed higher individual, community, and national resilience scores based on strength to vulnerability ratio, compared with younger individuals. These data support the contention that older Israelis are more resilient than younger cohorts. Their long direct or indirect experience with wars and terror attacks has not decreased their resilience, and has perhaps even strengthened it.

Predictors of Psychotherapy Use among Community-Dwelling Older Adults with Depressive Symptoms

ABSTARCTObjectives: The present study investigates the applicability of the behavioral model of health service use (Andersen, 1995) to the predicting of psychotherapy use among older adults.Methods: Sample was obtained, using a random-digit dialing methodology, from the older Jewish population in Israel. The final sample consisted of 509 respondents with an average age of 74.08 (SD = 5.89). The telephone interviews were conducted in the first week of August 2011, by experienced interviewers, in Hebrew or Russian, using a structured questionnaire.Results: After adjusting for age, gender, education, marital status, religiosity, health status, and economic status in the first step, binary logistic regression revealed that higher depressive symptoms, positive attitudes toward psychological treatment, primary physician referral, and accessibility of psychological services were all related to higher odds ratios for seeking psychological treatment.Conclusions: The present study integrated previously identified precursors of mental health service use into one model predicting psychotherapy use among community-dwelling older adults. The model suggests that the point of entry to psychotherapy is not limited to one source and that individuals’ need, their attitudes, accessibility of services, and their primary physicians’ referral are all useful facilitators of psychotherapy use.

DENATURALIZING CULTURE: SAYED KASHUA'S NEWSPAPER COLUMNS ON THE TOPIC OF PREJUDICE

Abstract Discrimination is a recurrent topic in the work of the Israeli-Arab writer Sayed Kashua. In the last couple of years, Sayed Kashua has moved away from writing about the prejudice expressed by his own Israeli Muslim community towards the Israeli Jewish population to focus his attention instead on the prejudice shown by Jews against Arabs in Israel. Self-criticism has always been a hallmark of Sayed Kashua's work so this shift indicates a significant change in the columnist's perception of his own society. Based on a survey of various issues relating to Israeli society, such as the law, the educational system and language, as well as a theoretical review of authors who observe a mutual alienation of Arabs and Jews in Israel, this article analyses several of Sayed Kashua's recent columns in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. It also investigates how the author understands prejudice and, in a singular and surprising way, expresses his concerns and solutions to this problem.

Commonsense Morality and the Ethics of Killing in War: An Experimental Survey of the Israeli Population

Abstract The morality of killing in war, which has been the subject of debate among philosophers and legal scholars, focuses on two main approaches: the “traditional” and the “revisionist.” The traditional approach argues for symmetry: soldiers of both sides are liable to be killed, whether or not the war they fight is just; civilians are immune from being harmed whether or not they are responsible for the evil against which the just side fights. Recently this approach has been challenged by a revisionist viewpoint, which derives the morality of killing in war from facts concerning the responsibility of individuals for wrongful threats. Killing soldiers, who fight a just war, is morally impermissible, whereas in certain cases killing civilians who are involved in an unjust aggression is permissible. The present study uses an experimental survey to examine whether moral attitudes toward targeting individuals in war are shaped by the factors underlying this debate: the cause of the war, the status of the targeted individuals as soldiers or civilians, and their involvement in the war effort. Respondents comprised a representative sample of the Jewish population in Israel. Our findings reveal a complex interplay between the factors, demonstrating the relevance of each factor to moral judgments. Notably, participants did not consider decisions on the battlefield to be independent of the justification of the war, a result which is consistent with the revisionist approach. We discuss the potential consequences of our findings on the understanding of commonsense morality and on the law. We also suggest that concepts derived from the social-psychological literature concerning moral self-regulation may help explain some of our findings.

Anxiety-Inducing Media: The Effect of Constant News Broadcasting on the Well-Being of Israeli Television Viewers

Objective: The effects of televised trauma on the emotional well-being of television viewers has received some scientific attention in recent years, suggesting that the general public is placed at risk of developing distress and possibly posttraumatic psychopathology as a result of secondary exposure via mass media. At the break of a recent war in Gaza, we assessed the psychological effects of the extensive news broadcasting. Method: An omnibus survey was performed two weeks into Operation Protective Edge with a sample of 500 participants representing the adult (> 18) Jewish population of Israel. Results: The results suggest that a vast majority (87.2%) of the population tuned in to the newscasts and the majority (76.7%) of viewers increased their news consumption compared to normal. Increased frequency of viewing newscasts was associated with reported anxiety reflected in uncontrolled fear, physiological hyperarousal, sleeping difficulties, and fearful thoughts. A regression model revealed that viewers watching the constant newscasts more than usual are 1.6 times more likely to report at least one anxiety symptom compared to those watching at the same frequency or less, standardized to gender and age. Conclusions: Increased viewing patterns of televised traumatic content, as well as negative perception of such broadcasts, are associated with the report of anxiety symptoms or psychopathology. The public health implications of the findings are discussed.

Association of CD24 and the adenomatous polyposis coli gene polymorphisms with oral lichen planus

CD24 and the adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) gene polymorphisms are known to predispose to malignant disease. We aimed to investigate their association with risk and susceptibility of oral lichen planus (OLP) in an Israeli Jewish population. The study included 54 patients, of which 41 were females (75.9%) and 13 males (24.1%); of the 533 controls, 224 were females (42.0%) and 309 males (57.9%). Genotyping was performed. Two APC (I1307 K, E1317 Q) and four CD24 variants--C170 T (rs52812045), TG1527 del (rs3838646), A1626 G (rs1058881), and A1056 G (rs1058818)--were assessed. Frequencies were analyzed using the Chi-square test. Two-sided P < .05 values were considered significant. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were obtained by logistic regression analyses. CD24 A1056 G carriers have a significantly lower risk of OLP compared with individuals with the wild-type variant (P = .001). A significantly lower risk was found for heterozygote (P = .008) and homozygote carriers (P = .002). Homozygote CD24 A1626 G carriers had a significant higher risk for OLP compared with nonhomozygote carriers (P = .040). CD24 C170 T, TG1527 del, and APC polymorphisms did not show significant associations with OLP risk. CD24 A1626 G is more frequent in OLP patients, contributes to disease risk, and could play a role in OLP susceptibility. A significant association between CD24 A1056 G and a lower OLP incidence was found, suggesting that it may confer protection against OLP risk and progression.

Post-Secular Jewish Feminist Theology?

About 25% of the Jewish population in Israel consists of “secular believers.” They self-identify as secular but also believe in God or some kind of higher/deeper power(s). Their identity conflicts with the conventional identification of secularism with atheism, as do post-secular theologies, whose theological ideas reject traditional religion while adopting concepts of faith. Western feminism proved especially conducive to the development of post-secular theology. This study addresses both Israeli Judaism and feminist theology from a post-secular perspective. It analyses two academic fields of discourse—feminist Jewish theology and feminism in Israel—to determine whether, how and why they are developing a Jewish post-secular feminist theology. The study reveals that such theologies are rare and suggests that discursive field structure limits their development.

Adoption of Online Network Tools by Minority Students: The Case of Students of Ethiopian Origin in Israel

Students of Ethiopian origin belong to one of the weakest sectors in the Jewish population of Israel. During their studies they have to deal with social alienation, cultural gaps, economic hardships, and racial stereotypes which reduce their chances to successfully complete their academic degree. In this respect, the present research asks whether online social media could provide those youngsters with tools and resources for their better social integration and adaptation to the academic life. For this purpose, the study was conducted in one of Israel’s largest academic colleges while adopting a design-based research approach, which advanced gradually on a continuum between ‘ambient’ and ‘designed’ technology-enhanced learning communities. The interventions applied for this study aimed at examining how they may encourage students of Ethiopian origin to expand their activities in the online social learning groups. The findings indicate that the main pattern of students of Ethiopian origin online participation was peripheral and limited to viewing only. Nevertheless, the level of their online activity has been improved after a series of two interventions, which also led to a slight improvement in indicators of their social integration and in a change in their usage of online learning groups from social to academic uses.

The Policing of Religious Marriage Prohibitions in Israel: Religion, State, and Information Technology

The State of Israel applies religious law in all matters of marriage and divorce. For the Jewish population of Israel, the law of marriage includes religious prohibitions on certain kinds of marriages, most notably the prohibition against intermarriage and the prohibition against marrying a mamzer. Over the years, Israel’s state-religious authorities have adopted a variety of methods and practices for policing these prohibitions. These include stringent procedures for premarital registration inquiries; use of databases for collecting information on prohibited persons; recording the possibility of mamzer status of newborn children; special Beit Din proceedings for handling cases of possible marriage prohibitions; Beit Din-initiated investigations of possible prohibited persons, including minors; and special “Jewishness investigations” for people of questionable Jewish ancestry. The article surveys the law and practice of these policing methods, as well as the acute social problems and injustices they cause. Lastly, the article discuses ways in which these methods change traditional Jewish marriage.

Citizenship orientations in a divided society: A comparison of three groups of Israeli junior-high students—secular Jews, religious Jews, and Israeli Arabs

This study identifies major preferences for combinations of rights and duties (henceforth, citizenship orientations), as reflected in the political worldview of Israeli junior-high school students. Two distinct orientations were found, termed here as ‘liberal’ and ‘ethno-republican’. In order to contextualize the examination of citizenship orientations in the deeply divided Israeli society, the study compares three educational sectors that represent these rifts. Findings suggest that citizenship orientations are context-bound, in the sense that they depend upon the educational sector. As expected, ethno-republican orientations were more salient among religious Jewish students than among either secular Jewish or Israeli Arab students. Secular Jewish and Israeli Arab students tend more strongly to endorse the liberal orientation, a propensity that is especially manifest among Arab adolescents. This trend supports the perception that Israeli-Jewish population is bifurcated.

Advances in genetic diagnostics for hereditary hearing loss

Hereditary hearing loss affects a significant proportion of the hearing impaired, with genetic mutations estimated to be responsible for its etiology in over 50% of this population. The methods for molecular diagnostics are changing as a result of the transition from linkage analysis to next generation sequencing to identify the genes responsible for hearing loss in affected families. In this review, we summarize the attitudes of the hearing impaired towards genetic testing, the latest techniques for identifying mutations, and provide a comprehensive list of the mutations found in the Israeli Jewish hearing-impaired population.

Seeking Empowerment and Spirituality in the Secular Age: Secular and Traditionalist Israelis Consulting Rabbis

This empirical study investigates the phenomenon of secular and traditionalist ( masorti) Israeli Jews who consult orthodox rabbis on personal matters. The study was conducted using a combined methodology: analysis of data from a large survey ( N = 6056) and conducting 50 in-depth semi-structured interviews. We found that of the 24 percent of the Israeli Jewish population who regularly consulted rabbis, 43 percent defined themselves as secular or traditionalist. People from all social strata regularly consult rabbis. Their socio-demographic characteristics and experiences are presented here. The phenomenon of secular and less religious Jews who consult orthodox rabbis on personal matters indicates the current relevance of religion and spirituality as resources for empowerment when dealing with various kinds of existential and personal difficulty. The study contributes to the ongoing discourse on the secular age and post-secular societies by examining the middle ground between traditional-religion and secular-modernity. It indicates a contemporary blurring of these categories.

The Prediction of Subjective Wellness Among the Old-Old: Implications for the "Fourth-Age" Conception

As the "fourth-age" conception suggests that the adaptability of psychosocial capabilities is disrupted at old-old age due to failures in maintaining balanced functions, this study examines the predictability of subjective wellness outcomes by factual dysfunction markers of health among old-old people across 12 years. Participants were self-respondents in a 3-wave survey that sampled the older (age 75-94) Jewish population in Israel. Wave 1 (N = 1,369, mean age = 83.5) preceded Wave 2 (N = 687, mean age = 85.4) by 4 years and Wave 3 (N = 164, mean age = 91.6) by 12 years. The dysfunction markers (comorbidity, medication consumption, doctor's visits, and difficulties in activities of daily living [ADL]) predicted subjective wellness by relating to an increase in depressive symptoms, as well as to a decrease in life evaluation and self-rated health, beyond adjustment for sociodemographics. However, in most cases, an interaction finding indicated that dysfunction markers were weaker predictors of age-related change in subjective wellness among older participants. At old-old age, the results point to reduced predictability of subjective wellness by factual dysfunction. This finding supports the fourth-age model. Still, researchers should consider an alternative interpretation, by which increasing independence between factual and subjective indicators is protective, rather than debilitating, among old-old people.

Convergence of Drinking Patterns of Young Russian Immigrants and Veteran Israelis Decades After Mass Immigration: Results From a Bidirectional Acculturation Model

Studying drinking patterns in relation to immigration processes is important for reaching a better understanding of changes in drinking habits in host as well as immigrant populations. Research based on assimilation models has previously noted that immigration may affect minority drinking patterns but has failed to acknowledge the possibility that immigration may change the host drinking patterns. The current study applies a bidirectional acculturation model to analyze if, and in what ways, mass emigration from the former Soviet Union (fSU) to Israel may have influenced immigrant drinking habits as well as the drinking patterns of veteran Israelis. A cross-sectional pooled nationally representative stratified simple random sample of the young Israeli Jewish adult population (ages 21-40 years) from 2004 and 2009 was used (n = 1,357; women = 52.7%). Logistic regression examined differences in drinking patterns and differences over time between fSU immigrants and veteran Israelis. There has been a convergence in moderate drinking habits between the two populations, and this convergence is attributed to increases in veteran Israeli moderate drinking over time but not to decreases in fSU immigrant drinking habits. Results also show that heavy drinking is increasing among veteran Israelis but that fSU immigrants continue to drink more heavily and to be more likely to prefer distilled spirits than veteran Israelis. A bidirectional acculturation model may be more appropriate than assimilation models for the study of immigrant drinking patterns because it acknowledges the possibility of changes in immigrant as well as host drinking customs.

Unpacking secularization: Structural changes, individual choices and ethnic paths

Studies of secularization suggest it is a complex and multidimensional process and that secularization unfolds in different sets of identities, practices and values. But, in spite of its non-linear and non-coherent character, secularization it is not necessarily arbitrary and individualistic. Rather, as this work demonstrates, ethnic groups may be influenced by similar secularizing forces, but the impact of these forces will be different and different paths of secularization will take place. In this work, based on a survey conducted in March 2009 of a representative sample of the adult Jewish population in Israel, we study three major ethnic groups in Israel to demonstrate how ethnicity influences the process of secularization measured in beliefs, practices and attitudes. Our findings demonstrate that ethnicity creates distinct paths of secularization with different changes of practices, beliefs and values. While for some ethnic groups secularization happens alongside a significant change in beliefs, practices and behaviors, for others religion remains significant and secularization is more partial, especially when measured in liberal values.

Sleep Duration, Nap Habits, and Mortality in Older Persons

To examine the effect of nighttime sleep duration on mortality and the effect modification of daytime napping on the relationship between nighttime sleep duration and mortality in older persons. Prospective survey with 20-yr mortality follow-up. The Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Aging Study, a multidimensional assessment of a stratified random sample of the older Jewish population in Israel conducted between 1989-1992. There were 1,166 self-respondent, community-dwelling participants age 75-94 yr (mean, 83.40, standard deviation, 5.30). Nighttime sleep duration, napping, functioning (activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living, Orientation Memory Concentration Test), health, and mortality. Duration of nighttime sleep of more than 9 hr was significantly related to increased mortality in comparison with sleeping 7-9 hr (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.31, P < 0.01) after adjusting for demographic, health, and function variables, whereas for short nighttime sleep of fewer than 7 hr mortality did not differ from that of 7-9 hr of sleep. For those who nap, sleeping more than 9 hr per night significantly increased mortality risk (HR = 1.385, P < 0.05) and shorter nighttime sleep reduced mortality significantly in the unadjusted model (HR = 0.71, P < 0.001) but only approached significance in the fully adjusted model (HR = 0.82, P = 0.054). For those who do not or sometimes nap, a short amount of sleep appears to be harmful up to age 84 yr and may be protective thereafter (HR = 1.51, confidence interval [CI] = 1.13-2.02, P < 0.01; HR = 0.76, CI = 0.49-1.17, in the fully adjusted model, respectively). The findings are novel in demonstrating the protective effect of short nighttime sleep duration in individuals who take daily naps and suggest that the examination of the effect of sleep needs to take into account sleep duration per 24 hr, rather than daytime napping or nighttime sleep per se. Cohen-Mansfield J; Perach R. Sleep duration, nap habits, and mortality in older persons. SLEEP 2012;35(7):1003-1009.