Papers by Bethamie Horowitz
Contemporary Jewry, Apr 23, 2024
Contemporary Jewry, Sep 21, 2023
This article represents the first field-wide treatment of American Jewish chaplains. As fewer Jew... more This article represents the first field-wide treatment of American Jewish chaplains. As fewer Jews, like members of all religious backgrounds in the USA, are religiously affiliated and regularly join or participate in local congregations, Jews and other Americans will likely find ways to address their spiritual-religious needs outside of congregational life, in settings such as hospitals, military, universities, elder care, and other settings where "life happens." Chaplains are religious professionals who work in these settings. While many people have done the work of chaplains-caring for others, attending to the dying, helping people engage with their spiritual-existential struggles-the evolution of those who consider themselves Jewish chaplains and their wrestling with the term chaplain, itself Christian, is at the center of the analyses offered here. We begin with a brief historical overview and then describe their work today. Our analysis is based on a series of historical and sociological inquiries carried out in 2021-2022. In the face of largely Protestant norms and expectations that shaped chaplaincy, American Jews-who made up the first non-Christian clergy to become chaplains in state and private settings-have engaged with and shifted the concept of chaplaincy and the training required to be eligible for these positions. The case of Jewish chaplains illuminates ways of navigating the seams of Jewishness in American life.
Teaching Israel:studies of pedagogy from the field. Sivan Zakai and matt Reingold (Eds). Branded university press, 2024
American Jewish Year Book, 2019
In the current volume of the Year Book, the editors follow up on the optimistic vs. pessimistic a... more In the current volume of the Year Book, the editors follow up on the optimistic vs. pessimistic assessment of American Jewish life, which was discussed in the 2017 Year Book. A summary of the original arguments formulated by Cohen and Liebman in regard to the characteristics of American Jews as viewed originally in 1987 is examined. The 19 participants in the current Forum were asked to review the original 1987 essays by Cohen and Liebman as well as the contemporary assessment by Cohen (all provided in Chap. 1 of this volume) and to provide a commentary in which they would cite relevant data to support their position. All authors were asked to provide a thermometer reading on how warmly or coolly they felt toward Cohen’s contemporary assessment of American Jewish life. Scores ranged from a hot 100 to a cold 5. The median score was 60, and the mean was 56.
Development where she teaches the core doctoral seminar in the Education and Jewish Studies program.
Contemporary Jewry, 2016
In the past century conducting a study of the local Jewish community has become a hallmark of Ame... more In the past century conducting a study of the local Jewish community has become a hallmark of American Jewish communal planning. Indeed, at least 205 local community studies have been conducted in ninety-seven different localities since 1920. At this point there is a set of routine practices about how best to carry out these studies -habits that warrant a reconsideration in light of the many changes in methods, cost, technology, and the overall funding (or lack thereof) of research to meet information needs regarding American Jews. We might ask, Are small communities different from larger ones in terms of the expectations that ought to be in place regarding possible study methodologies? Are local community studies the best way to learn about topics of significance regarding the evolving experience of Jews in America? Needed is a national strategy for identifying the pressing knowledge needs of the American Jewish community.
American Jewish Year Book, 2014
The publication of the Pew study of Jewish Americans unleashed a slew of interpretations and comm... more The publication of the Pew study of Jewish Americans unleashed a slew of interpretations and commentary, revealing dueling ways of thinking about American Jewry. In one prevalent reading, these facts represent a “grim portrait” whose results are “devastating,” evidence of “so much assimilation.” In contrast, I offered a different reading of these same facts, arguing that the study’s findings show the “surprising persistence and durability of Jewishness in America” (Horowitz 2013).
Contemporary Jewry, 2010
In this article, I briefly review the competing claims of the two sets of authors (Cohen and Kelm... more In this article, I briefly review the competing claims of the two sets of authors (Cohen and Kelman versus the Sasson team), noting their points of convergence and divergence. Second, for all of their differences, implicit in their analyses I detect an under-explicated conception of the relationship between Jews in America and Israel, one that warrants a fresh exploration going forward, leading me to call for much-needed exploratory research about these questions. Finally I situate the discussion about needed future research in terms of the how we ought to envision the relationship between ''town and gown'' in creating knowledge about and for the Jewish communal-organizational world.
![Research paper thumbnail of Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian explanations of political actions in the Middle East [microform] /](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/86889683/thumbnails/1.jpg)
This study investigated how people affiliated with different parties in an international conflict... more This study investigated how people affiliated with different parties in an international conflict understand their own actions and the actions of their adversaries. Using data gathered in the Middle East in 1982, the study examined the explanations offered by 1336 Israeli Jews, Palestinians (living in Israel) and Egyptians to three political events in the Middle East: 'Israeli Air Force conducts a raid on Beirut,' 'Palestinians attack a bus on the Haifa-Tel Aviv highway,' and 'A peace treaty is announced between Israel and Egypt'. The study, an exploratory analysis, was carried out in a sequence of stages. First, the analysis involved a V comparison of the substantive interpretations of the 'same' events by people from three Middle Eastern societies. Second, a typology of responses to the three political events was developed which identified different cognitive orientations toward the conflict environment. Third, distinctive patterns of response across the three political events were identified using latent class analysis (Lazarsfeld, 1954, 1959; Goodman, 1974). It was expected that parties to a conflict would explain the 'same' events differently. The extent of these differences, however, varied not only by nationality, but with each type of event. War events were seen as more familiar and predictable in their causes and consequences than peace events. Thus, the study revealed parallel ways of thinking about war events across societies. In contrast, a peace action generated differences in interpretation among all three of the national groups. At the cognitive level the peace action appeared to unsettle the stereotypic expectations that each party has of the others, implying that rather than trying to change perceptions by addressing them directly via cognitive techniques, more types of events are needed which can shake up the closed perceptual system created by ongoing hostile events. Table 19: Discriminant Function Analysis on Latent Classes: Egyptian Sample .
… Jewish philanthropy in …, 1991
Joke: A Jew is found on a deserted island. He gives the guy that finds him a tour of the island o... more Joke: A Jew is found on a deserted island. He gives the guy that finds him a tour of the island on which he has been living for several years. There is not one, but two shuls [synagogues] on the island. Why two?" This is the shul I go to, and that is the one I wouldn't set foot in!"
Journal of Jewish Education, 2008
Over the course of the twentieth century changing circumstances have prompted American Jewish edu... more Over the course of the twentieth century changing circumstances have prompted American Jewish educators to develop new educational strategies to address these needs, and these developments are an important aspect of the sociology of American Jewish education. ...
In this paper I describe the current state of knowledge about contemporary American Jewish identi... more In this paper I describe the current state of knowledge about contemporary American Jewish identity and propose an agenda for future research-"both to advance [our] scientific understanding and to provide information relevant to policy decisions. " Not surprisingly,
Journal of Jewish Education, 2008
“Jewish identity” has been a central concern both in the realm of research about American Jewry a... more “Jewish identity” has been a central concern both in the realm of research about American Jewry and to American Jewish educational programming, but what it means and how to best study it have come under question in recent years. In this article, four scholars describe the ...
2000/2003, 2003
This study has had its own journey over five years. The idea for it grew out of the discussions o... more This study has had its own journey over five years. The idea for it grew out of the discussions of the Research and Evaluation Workgroup of the Jewish Continuity Commission in 1995-96, a process that culminated in my preparing a proposal to the Commission for this project. This study benefited from the unerring support and sage counsel of David Arnow, the chair of the Workgroup, Lynn Korda Kroll, the founding chair of the Commission, John Ruskay, the founding Executive Director of the Commission, and the members of the Workgroup. Without their help this study would not have been funded. Alisa Rubin Kurshan, as Executive Director of the Jewish Continuity Commission, has been a central supporter of this work in partnership with Billie Gold, Chair of the Commission and Alan Siskind, Chair of the Research and Evaluation Workgroup. In addition, the Commission members themselves have been helpful collaborators in this work, through their lively and thoughtful ongoing interest in the findings of this study. That UJA-Federation is the main sponsor of this important basic research is particularly noteworthy. It is very difficult to obtain funding for basic research about Jewish life, even for the many population studies that have provided the knowledge-base for the American Jewish communal enterprise during the past four decades. UJA-Federation of New York has shown its leadership in this regard through its willingness to move beyond the sociodemographic perspective of the population studies and to undertake exploratory research to begin to address the "continuity issue." Other funders joined UJA-Federation in this effort. The AviChai Foundation generously co-sponsored the first phase of the project-the in-depth interviews. The Chazen Family Fund made a generous contribution that allowed us to conduct the focus groups. Finally, the Lucius Littauer Foundation gave this project a helpful "vote of confidence," despite the fact that social scientific research is beyond the normal purview of the foundation's mission. The Academic Advisory Board, which was set up especially for this project, served as a remarkable brain trust for my inquiry, and I am deeply grateful to its members for their unflagging, intensive (and unpaid) support for the project. Without their help and steady counsel, the study would not have been so successful.
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Papers by Bethamie Horowitz