Tal Litvak-Hirsch

Between Culture and Family: Jewish-Israeli Young Adults' Relation to the Holocaust as a Cultural Trauma

This study assessed how Jewish Israeli young adults perceive the impacts of the Holocaust on themselves, their family and Israel society. The written responses of 180 respondents, 90 of which were grandchildren of Holocaust survivors (GHSs) and 90 which are not grandchildren of survivors (NGHSs), connected the Holocaust with issues of security, education and culture, and the impact, or lack of it, on family and self. These responses also suggest that NGHS relate to the Holocaust only through sociocultural mechanisms and that GHSs are influenced by the same sociocultural mechanisms, yet are also divided by the perceived impact of intergenerational processes on their personal and family lives. The overall results of the study suggest that regardless of family connection to the Holocaust, in Israel there are sociocultural mechanisms at work that impact the perception of the Holocaust on the third generation of Holocaust survivors as a cultural trauma.

Whose House is This? Dilemmas of Identity Construction in the Israeli-Palestinian Context

This article examines the ways in which ones perception of the other contributes to processes involved in the construction of collective identity. This study presents analyses and comparisons of semi-structured interviews using a dilemma concerning ownership of a house that was undertaken with 20 Jewish and Palestinian university students, citizens of Israel, who participated in a 1-year seminar that dealt with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Analyses of the entire sample showed that, during the year, all of the participants enhanced their self-awareness of the complexity of the conflict. Each group emphasized the processes that reflect the role of the conflict in the construction of its collective identity. The Palestinians appeared to be in the process of constructing their identity and the Jews in the process of deconstructing theirs while trying to cope with their need for security during the on-going conflict. In-depth analyses of interviews with 2 women students highlighted the processes of ident...

Perceptions of the Holocaust of Palestinian Young Adults, Citizens of Israel

A largely neglected area of study in the field of trauma and its effects is the way a collective trauma of a majority group influences a minority group that lives in the same region. Such an investigation is especially relevant within the context of the Palestinian–Israeli conflict concerning the Holocaust—the defining trauma of Jewish Israelis. This pilot study focused on the thoughts, feelings, and interpretations concerning the Holocaust of 56 young adults, Palestinian citizens in Israel. The semi-structured questionnaires and interviews demonstrate that the young adults express an inherent conflict when dealing with the Holocaust—one that emanates from the tension that exists between universalistic and particularistic interpretations of the Holocaust within the Palestinian narrative. At the universalistic end of the continuum, the Holocaust is acknowledged as a crime against humanity; whereas, at the particularistic end of the continuum, the Holocaust is interpreted through political lenses of the Isr...

Through Psychological Lenses: University Students' Reflections Following the "Psychology of the Holocaust" Course.

While Holocaust related activities and educational programs around the world are growing in number, published reports on their impact are scarce, especially on the university level. The free responses of 94 Jewish‐Israeli university students who took the course “Psychology of the Holocaust” yielded eight themes. The results reflect a change of emphasis and movement from a mainly particularistic interpretation of the Holocaust to a more universalistic understanding of the Holocaust. This movement is explained by the occurrence of two reflective processes: situational and universal reflexivity of genocide and reflexivity regarding the personal and collective impact of genocide.

Evaluating conflict mitigation and health improvement through soccer: a two-year study of Mifalot's 'United Soccer for Peace' programme.

War not only has a direct impact on health through its direct physical consequences but also through the stress experienced by all those directly and indirectly affected by it. Therefore, conflict mitigation efforts can make a significant positive impact on health. In Israel, a country that has experienced a great deal of conflict, utilizing sports to foster peaceful relations and coexistence is an idea that has gained popularity in recent years. The aim of this article is to examine in-depth, using social psychological theoretical lenses one project, Mifalot’s ‘United Soccer for Peace’ soccer coaching certification course. The course trains adult Arab and Jewish soccer coaches in mixed groups, as well as to teach them peace education values and tools. This study examined the successes and challenges of this project in contributing to conflict mitigation and health improvement. Some of the specific questions addressed were: Why did many Arab participants leave the project in its early stages? What can be done to improve this project and similar projects like this in the future? There were 63 coaches, Israeli Arabs and Jews interviewed. In general, the results provide evidence that sports can contribute to coexistence and improved health with the right theoretical understanding, planning and organization. Achievements as well as challenges of the project are discussed and recommendations for improvement and implementation to other conflict areas are suggested.

‘Sadly, Not All Love Affairs Are Meant To Be … ’ Attitudes Towards Interfaith Relationships in a Conflict Zone

ABSTRACT This study examines attitudes towards interfaith relationships between individuals living in the conflict state of Israel. An exploratory method was used and interviews were conducted with Jewish Israeli, Christian Palestinian, and Muslim Palestinian students currently living in Israel. Thematic analysis was used to identify key themes that emerged from the interviews. Four main themes were identified: (i) negative attitudes towards interfaith relationships, (ii) importance of familial approval, (iii) societal pressure in Israel, and lastly, (iv) preservation of cultural identity. These findings demonstrated that overall, participants were adamantly opposed to engaging in interfaith relationships; the main concern was pleasing their parents. Another concern was adhering to religious teachings, which forbid such relationships. Participants also stated that conserving one’s religious and cultural identity in a conflict state was of utmost importance and interfaith relationships were perceived as fraternising with the ‘enemy’. This paper demonstrates that attitudes towards interfaith relationships may be uniquely shaped by living in the conflict zone of Israel, whose citizens are particularly concerned with preserving their cultural identity – whether they were Muslim, Jewish, or Christian. For a society such as Israel where religion and culture intermingle, this paper suggests that interfaith relationships may not be readily welcomed.

Whose House is This? The Palestinian ‘Other’ and the Construction of Jewish Israeli Identity

The construction of identity is a central issue that has been discussed in theory and in research over the last 30 years (Tajfel, 1981; Rosenthal, 1997). In Israel, researchers deal with the issue from the perspective of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Suleiman, 1997; Bar-On, 1999), by emphasizing inter- and intra-group processes (Bar-Tal and Rouhana, 1998; Maoz, 2000). This chapter focuses on the processes involved in the construction of personal and collective identity in Israel from the perspective of perceptions of the Palestinian Jewish ‘other’. We hold two basic assumptions concerning the construction of identity which have their roots in the study of group identity. The first is that identity is multifaceted, composed principally of individual identity and collective identity. The latter is based on social factors such as group membership (Tajfel, 1981). The construction of personal and social identity is a dynamic process that develops and changes over the life course of the individual. Identity is perceived as a means by which people connect the real to the imagined and the concrete to the symbolic, as they perceive their personal and social world (Bhabha, 1990). An example is how people perceive themselves as being part of a national or ethnic group and the thoughts and emotions that this identity evokes.