The 2019 Sklare Address: How Gender and Family Still Matter for Contemporary Jewry
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The 2019 Sklare Address: How Gender and Family Still Matter for Contemporary Jewry Harriet Hartman1
© Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Family has resurfaced in many ways as its contemporary face has changed, often challenging the transmission of Jewry in traditional ways. Gender fluidity and equality had nearly camouflaged the contribution of gender to the transmission of Jewry for a majority of the American Jewish population, at least. But revelations of persisting and underlying gendered patterns beyond the family have alerted us to its particular dynamic, which itself has multiple implications for family as well as institutional life. In this address, we will discuss the changes that are occurring and their implications, as well as research implications, drawing on previous research and approaches that the Sklare awardee has taken and is taking. Keywords Family · Gender · Jewish identity · Open systems model · Ecological model of environment · Jewish exceptionalism It is humbling to stand before you as the Marshall Sklare Award honoree. It comes during a year that the first such honoree to receive the award in 1992 passed away. Sidney Goldstein’s contributions to Jewish demography are legend, and formed the background to many of my approaches to the study of contemporary Jews, and we will honor him later tonight at a Memorial session at 9 pm. And I stand on the shoulders of other honorees, whose work has been fundamental to my own development. To name but a few: Calvin Goldscheider, the 2001 honoree, was my dissertation advisor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who guided me through my first foray into the sociology of contemporary Jews, the comparative study of women’s roles as they changed upon immigration to Israel from Middle Eastern countries and Anglo-Saxon and Western European countries. Samuel Heilman, the 2003 honoree, preceded me as editor of Contemporary Jewry, and served both as role model Dedicated to the memory of my husband, Moshe Hartman, z’l. * Harriet Hartman [email protected] 1
Professor and Chair, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ 08028, USA
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and mentor for the role I still play. The works of Riv-Ellen Prell, the 2011 honoree, and of Sylvia Barack Fishman, the 2014 honoree, contributed—and contribute— immensely to my understanding of gender, family and intermarriage among American Jews. Insights from the demography and analysis of Sergio Della Pergola, the 1999 honoree, Charles Liebman, the 2000 honoree, his work with Stephen Cohen, the 2010 honoree, and the work of Bruce Phillips, the 2016 honoree, developed my thinking not only about American Jews but the global picture of Jews, and in particular, comparisons to Israeli Jews. Judit Liwerant, the 2017 honoree, has brought the language of Professor Shmuel Eisenstadt to Jewish studies—I worked with Prof. Eisenstadt while I was a graduate student at Hebrew U and he later became my postdoc mentor. Judit has inspired me to incorporate transnationalism and a more nuanced global comparison into my own
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