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Born of Our Fathers : Patrilineal Descent, Jewish Identity, and the Development of Self

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Born of Our Fathers : Patrilineal Descent, Jewish Identity, and the Development of Self Smith ScholarWorks Theses, Dissertations, and Projects 2008 Born of our fathers : patrilineal descent, Jewish identity, and the development of self Elizabeth A. Sosland Smith College Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.smith.edu/theses Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Sosland, Elizabeth A., "Born of our fathers : patrilineal descent, Jewish identity, and the development of self" (2008). Masters Thesis, Smith College, Northampton, MA. https://scholarworks.smith.edu/theses/1262 This Masters Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in Theses, Dissertations, and Projects by an authorized administrator of Smith ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Liz Sosland Born of Our Fathers: Patrilineal Decent, Jewish Identity, and the Development of Self ABSTRACT This study explores the ways in which disagreement within the American Jewish community regarding the legitimacy of patrilineal descent impacts the identity development of Jewish children born of Jewish fathers and non-Jewish mothers. Twelve participants who self-identify as Jewish, were born to Jewish fathers, and cannot trace their Jewish descent through matrilineal bloodlines were interviewed for this qualitative, exploratory study. Data was gathered about the ways in which this population is internally impacted by this community disagreement, specifically in regard to their development, understanding, and maintenance of self. Findings of this study indicate that there is a strong connection between the amount and quality of selfobject experiences participants could access and the quality of each individual’s Jewish identity. Those with greater selfobject access reported their Jewish identities to be of greater importance to them, and their narratives indicated greater connection to that identity. When participants did not have access to successful selfobject experiences, they appeared to be more negatively impacted by the patrilineal descent debate. The types of selfobject experiences that participants accessed reached beyond the three types delineated in self-psychology, ultimately suggesting that participants in this study have unique selfobject needs that were not included in Kohut’s original theory that focused heavily on the experiences of the majority population. BORN OF OUR FATHERS: PATRILINEAL DECENT, JEWISH IDENTITY, AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF SELF A project based upon an independent investigation, submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Social Work. Liz Sosland Smith College School for Social Work Northampton, Massachusetts 01063 2008 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis is the product of an incredible team whose support has helped craft so much of both the process and product of this study. First and foremost, thank you to all of the people who lent their voices and personal journeys as participants in this study. Your openness and generosity of spirit enabled me to engage in the study of something deeply meaningful to me. I am enormously grateful to each of you, and I truly hope I did justice to your stories. I extend my deep thanks as well to my advisor, Carla Naumburg. This thesis would have been half of what it is, had you not been on my team. Thank you for your indefatigable excitement about this topic, and your willingness to read and re-read these words to help me do my best work when my own eyes glazed over these pages. Thank you also to my Smith family, particularly Beth, who has shaped so much of this Smith experience for me. Your friendship, comfort, and laughter have offered such richness, joy, and growth to the past two years. Thank you to my dear friend, Boo, for your eleventh hour editing prowess, and steadfast friendship over the many years preceding this project. Thank you to Mom, Sissy, and Yantee, and my friends back home, who have earnestly tried to get this Smith experience, and who keep me grounded even when deadlines and transcriptions make me absent for longer periods than I would choose. Your unrelenting belief in my capacity has kept me anchored through this whole process. Lastly, thank you Dan, for supporting my excitement about ideas of a foreign land, and meeting me there to play with them. Thank you for helping me “do perspective-taking” when I needed it, and reminding me of my endurance when it was not readily apparent to me. Your love is in these pages. This project is dedicated to my dad, whose Jewish soul and the beauty it carried, guides these questions. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.......................................................................................... ii TABLE OF CONTENTS.............................................................................................. iii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION................................................................................................ 1 II LITERATURE REVIEW..................................................................................... 4 III METHODOLOGY............................................................................................... 24 IV FINDINGS ........................................................................................................... 33 V DISCUSSION....................................................................................................... 54 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................. 70 APPENDICES Appendix A: Recruitment Materials ............................................................................ 73 Appendix B: Informed Consent Form ......................................................................... 74 Appendix C: Questions for Telephone Screening Prior to Interview.......................... 76 Appendix D: Demographic Questionnaire................................................................... 77 Appendix E: Interview Guide...................................................................................... 78 Appendix F: Human Subjects Review Board Approval Letter................................... 80 iii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The purpose of this study is to explore how disagreement within the American Jewish community regarding the legitimacy of patrilineal descent impacts the identity development of Jewish children born of Jewish fathers and non-Jewish mothers. Jewish law indicates that in order for a person to be born Jewish, a child must be able to trace his/her Jewish bloodline through his/her mother’s ancestry (Benvenuto, 2004). While this view differs among varied denominations of Judaism, it is one that remains powerfully controversial within the Jewish community. In the United States, the Reconstructionist and Reform movements currently acknowledge the validity of patrilineal Jewish descent; however, their doing so has created enormous disagreement within the Jewish community and confusion among Jews of patrilineal descent regarding the continuity and legitimacy of their Jewish identity. While the history of this question can be traced back thousands of years, the poignancy of the issue is garnering increasing importance in contemporary society. Interfaith marriages are on the rise in the United States and more and more children are being born of interfaith partnerships between Jewish fathers and non-Jewish mothers (Bleicher, 1999). Many of these children are being raised Jewish, despite the tenets of traditional Jewish law (Bleicher, 1999), as well as the likelihood that controversy over the legitimacy of their identities will continue passionately within Jewish discourse for years 1 to come. Consequently, these children are traversing different contexts in which the credibility of their Jewish identity, and ultimately themselves, may possibly face ongoing redefinition. Very little research exists exploring the psychological and developmental impact of this negotiation on Jewish children of non-Jewish mothers; therefore clinical social workers are likely counseling this population without substantial research on their needs or experiences. This study seeks to increase the understanding of the internal impact of these external, social experiences in an effort to explore the relationship that these issues have on one’s identity development and emergence of a cohesive self. Ultimately this research will enable clinicians, clergy, and other professionals to provide more relevant support for this population with sensitivity to the unique issues its members are facing. Very little empirical research has been conducted with a focus on this population. One study was completed by McCleary (1995), and though it did not include a statistically significant sample, it did offer some exploration of the experiences of children within the context of interfaith partnerships between Jewish fathers and non- Jewish mothers. This study found that the Jewish children involved in the research had formed strong Jewish identities as members of synagogues that were particularly welcoming of mixed married couples. The research also reported that the children viewed their experiences growing up in interfaith households positively, and that they were able to integrate the varied religious and cultural experiences of their parents cohesively. McCleary attributed this outcome to the parents’ consideration for, and participation in, each other's traditions. While this study provided a small amount of data about the experiences of children raised in interfaith households, a search of the literature
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