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NEXTBOOK FEATURE
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American Jews and Marriage Counseling, 1920-1945
Jane Rothstein, doctoral student, New York University
In reaction to rising nationwide divorce rates at the turn of the 20th century, American sociologists and clergymen began educational efforts to keep marriage a healthy social institution. Rabbi Sidney Goldstein, hired in 1907 by Stephen Wise at the Free Synagogue, spearheaded this new initiative among Jews. For him, Jane Rothstein says, “the moral implications of marriage were more important than the religious ones. He pushed the point in the Reform movement, that rabbis need to be involved with counseling their congregants and the young people in the community about how to create a good marriage, which included economic issues and understanding sexuality.” For Goldstein, Rothstein says, marriage was “an institution that has social ramifications, both for American society and for the Jewish people. He was very much in favor of what he saw as a new development, that marriage is no long a patriarchal institution, but more of a democratic institution.”
More from the AJS Conference:
"Based on a True Story": Popular Imaginings among American Jews of Gender
in Ultra-Orthodox Society
Bi'ur Hametz and the Ancient Semitic Magic
Confronting the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict in the Jewish Studies Classroom"
Gefilte Fish and Beautiful Shoes: Soviet Jews Describe the Ideal Jewish Woman
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Kazimir Malevich
Money in Jewish Eyes: Object of Desire or Derision?
Mothers' Dreams, Daughters' Choices: Envisioning Mothers of Ba'alot Teshuvah
and their Daughters
The "Normal" Mysticism of Jewish Meal Rituals
Piracy, Politics, and Product Placement: Hasidic Book and Magazine
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The Rise of the Ladino Theater in the Ottoman Empire
About the Conference
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