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NEXTBOOK FEATURE
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Mothers' Dreams, Daughters' Choices: Envisioning Mothers of Ba'alot Teshuvah and their Daughters
Roberta Sands, professor of social work, University of Pennsylvania
Roberta Sands follows mothers and their grown daughters who have become more religiously observant—ba'alot teshuvah—in Israel, Holland, and the United States. The component of her work that she is presenting at AJS discusses her findings from interviews with 17 mother-daughter pairs who live in the United States to find out what mothers expect for their daughters, and what daughters expect for their own children. “The central theme for the mothers was that their daughters be happy, fulfilled, and successful,” says Sands, “and the essential theme for the daughters was they wanted their children to have Torah values, that they be God-fearing and observe the mitzvot, engage in Jewish learning, and observe Halacha.” Often fundamental values differed, though there were ideas in common. “Mothers wanted their kids to got to college and have professions, careers, be successful, be doctors, lawyers, judges, et cetera. Some of the daughters said they hope their kids go to college and have a profession, but it was nuanced differently. They didn't want them to go to a coed college, they viewed college as a means to a practical goal—earning a living—and it wasn't really liberal-artsy. They didn't want them to be exposed to anything they didn't have to be exposed to—and they were concerned about what they would be exposed to on the campus.” Among the mothers, “maybe one or two said they hoped they'd marry a Jewish man. But in terms of Jewish involvement, they thought, well, if anything, be a nominal member of a Reform synagogue, but it's not a big factor.”
More from the AJS Conference:
American Jews and Marriage Counseling, 1920-1945
"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
Jewish Identity at Work
Lekhu ve-nelekhah (Come Ye and Let Us Walk): The Jewish Students of
Kazimir Malevich
Money in Jewish Eyes: Object of Desire or Derision?
The "Normal" Mysticism of Jewish Meal Rituals
Piracy, Politics, and Product Placement: Hasidic Book and Magazine
Publishing Today
The Rise of the Ladino Theater in the Ottoman Empire
About the Conference
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