Ephraim Tabory

The perception of women's status in Israel as a social problem

This study examines the perception of the status of women in Israel as a social problem, its cognitive structure and its correlates. The 994 respondents included a sample of university students, nurses, and female army officers. In general, the results suggest that feminist issues are perceived as less severe than most other social problems and that men perceive feminist issues as significantly less severe than do women. Factor analyses indicate that men and women think about social problems differently and that women have a broader more integrated conception of sex inequality. Sex, religiosity, education, and occupational context were all found to be significant predictors of perceptions of womens issues as social problems.

National religious context and familial religiosity within a Jewish framework

Kelley and De Graaf studied the relationship between national and familial religiosity in 15 Christian societies. They found that secular people living in religious societies acquire more orthodox Christian beliefs than similar persons living in secular societies do. We examine whether their findings can be extended to societies that are not Christian by contrasting Jewish religiosity in the United States with Jewish religiosity in Israel. Extensive surveys of American and Israeli Jews enable us to examine the impact of similar and dissimilar societal religious contexts. The survey data indicate that the overall religious level of Israeli society is on a par with the United States. We find that there is an interaction effect. On the whole, Israeli Jewry has an enhanced level of religiosity which is higher than that of American Jews, even for those who belong to the American Orthodox denomination. Israeli secular Jews are found to acquire enhanced religiosity characteristics from their surrounding majority Jewish society. Secular American Jews do acquire Christian religiosity traits and display religious service attendance levels considerably below that of their surrounding Christian society.

Avoidance and conflict: perceptions regarding contact between religious and nonreligious Jewish youth in Israel

This study examines the attitudes regarding civil religious issues that have developed among religious and nonreligious Jews in Israel and the perceptions of each group regarding the other. A considerable amount of social isolation characterizes the general relationships between religious and nonreligious Jews even when they live together. The subjects of this study, religious and nonreligious high school youth, were given closed questionnaires that dealt with religious observance, interpersonal contact with persons of different degrees of religiosity, tolerance for others and perceived tolerance of others for them, housing preferences, perceptions regarding religious and nonreligious groups in Israel, and attitudes relating to religion and state

THE POLITICAL CONTEXT OF FEMINIST ATTITUDES IN ISRAEL

The purpose of the present study was to identify the sources of social support for feminist issues in Israel. Attitudes toward these issues as social problems and toward feminism as a social movement were examined through a questionnaire administered to 2,097 university students studying in the Tel Aviv area in 1985-1986. The study found that Israeli students who considered gender discrimination in promotion and prohibitions against abortion severe social problems were more likely to be on the political left, nonreligious or secular, and generally tolerant of difference and open to change. Support for the perception of violence against women as a social problem was stronger than for the other two issues and cut across the dominant cleavages in Israeli society. Students do not connect violence against women with gender inequality. These findings and their significance for the development of feminism in Israel are discussed within the framework of Gamson and Modiglianis (1987) analysis of the culture of policy issues.

Residential integration and religious segregation in an Israeli neighborhood

This study asks how religious and nonreligious Jews in an Israeli neighborhood maintain tension free relationships, given the prevalence of religious conflict in Israeli society. Neighboring patterns and interpersonal relationships of religious and nonreligious residents in a middle class Israeli neighborhood (n = 79 religious and 177 nonreligious) were investigated by observations, and through interviews using an open ended and fixed choice questionnaire concerning Jewish and Israeli symbols and interreligious neighboring practices. The findings show that both groups maintain segregated friendship patterns despite the residential proximity of religious and nonreligious Jews in the area. It is suggested that a similar orientation toward cultural and religious symbols and practices affects both groups and leads them to refrain from conflict, especially given their residence in a religiously mixed neighborhood. The segregated friendship pattern also inhibits conflict by restricting interaction that may lead to friction over religious issues.

Rights and rites: Women's roles in liberal religious movements in Israel

A study of the Reform and Conservative movements in Israel indicates that the question of womens rights in these Jewish denominations is essentially dormant. This is in contrast with the lively discussion of the role of women in American Jewish life. The demand for greater roles in the synagogue may be affected by the general societal orientation toward womens rights. In the Israeli case, there is no stimulant from a general movement for womens rights to lead to such demands among religious adherents.

The Attribution of Peaceful Intentions to the Visit by Sadat to Jerusalem and Subsequent Implications for Peace

The change of Israeli public opinion toward the possibility of a peaceful settlement in the Middle East is judged to be the result of the attribution of true, peaceful intentions to the Egyptians as a result of their presidents visit to Jerusalem. The behavioral change by the Egyptian president and the resulting change in behavior among the Israeli leaders itself brings attitude change and increases the momentum to reach a settlement.

Toward a Model of the Migration Cycle

Perhaps this reflection by one of our Australian respondents best characterizes the experience of the emigrants once they have arrived in their adopted country. They must confront the issue of whether to remain or return. For some it is a constant preoccupation and for others there is a perennial ambivalence. On what bases does the act of staying as opposed to leaving rest?

Retention or Reemigration

One of our Australian respondents, when pressed by the interviewer about the decision to remain or return to America, replied: Mainly we talk about it (returning) when people ask us about it. It isn’t something that comes up once a week or even once a month. Once a month would be generous. ... No, it sort of happened (remaining), I think. I mean, we don’t know if the right job came up or something happened, but we talk less about whether or not we’ll go back to the States, but more about where we’d like to move in Australia.

More on Motives

In this chapter we examine the variety of motivations arrayed in quadrants B (self-instrumental), C (others-expressive), and D (others-instrumental) for which data are available. We begin with the self-instrumental motivations. “Well, do you ever find yourself asking why you have stayed here for 7 years?” asked the interviewer: Oh, yes, and I think the main reason is economical, and because Dick isn’t really that keen to leave. We can’t go to England because of the economic situation there. And he doesn’t feel that he can go to America, and I couldn’t get a job teaching in America at the moment either, because there’s a glut.