Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2015 Mishpacha in the American Diaspora: An Exploratory Study of Highly-Involved Jewish Families Trevan Glen Hatch Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Social Work Commons Recommended Citation Hatch, Trevan Glen, "Mishpacha in the American Diaspora: An Exploratory Study of Highly-Involved Jewish Families" (2015). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 519. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/519 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. MISHPACHA IN THE AMERICAN DIASPORA: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF HIGHLY-INVOLVED JEWISH FAMILIES A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The School of Social Work by Trevan Glen Hatch B.A., Brigham Young University, 2008 M.A., Towson University, 2011 May 2015 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I thank the families who participated in this study and for allowing us into their homes to conduct interviews. I am confident that their thoughtful and deep comments will not only benefit Jewish families, but also extend the knowledge base of family relationships and minority families in United States. I especially acknowledge my adviser and co-chair, Dr. Loren Marks. You, brother, are one of the most honorable and charitable individuals I have ever met. Thank you for your optimism and for always helping me keep proper perspective. You are the reason I came to LSU in the first place. You have given me valuable insights on how to work both hard and smart. Thank you for spending a significant amount of time with me each week (sometimes three hours!) throughout the course of my program at LSU. I could not have asked for a better mentor. Thanks also to my other co-chair, Dr. Cassandra Chaney. You have greatly enhanced my experience at LSU. Your classes were intellectually illuminating and engaging. Your creativity and passion for what you do has inspired me to be better and to be more creative with my research. I am grateful to the other members my committee, Dr. Scott Wilks, Dr. Katherine Mitchell, and Dr. Steven Bickmore. Thank you for making me a better scholar and for contributing to my dissertation and my overall experience and training at LSU. I also acknowledge Dr. Ellen LeVee for reading portions of the dissertation from an insider’s perspective and for offering suggestions for improvement. I thank all of my Jewish mentors, friends, classmates, and associates over the years at Baltimore Hebrew University, Towson University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Spertus ii Institute of Jewish Learning and Leadership (Chicago) for the enlightening discussions and memorable experiences. Finally, I thank my wife of ten years, my three children, and my parents. Megan has worked extremely hard caring for our family so that I can finish my degrees as quickly as possible. She is an amazing strength and inspiration to me. And she is getting quite funny in her “old age” too, which always helps. My kids keep me focused and happy. They pray every night that daddy will “finish his book and get a job.” My parents instilled in me at an early age the value of hard work. They sat and read with me and helped me prepare for history tests while in middle school and high school. They taught me to take personal responsibility for my actions and to reject victimization. If I could include my wife’s and parents’ names on my PhD diploma, I would. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………………….........ii ABSTRACT……………………………………………………..…………….............................vi CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION……………………………………………................................1 The Schismatic Jewish Community………………………………...........................................2 The Love / Hate Jewish Paradox………………………………...............................................5 American Jewry and the Jewish Family………………………………..................................14 CHAPTER 2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE………………………………................................18 Cultural / Religious Community and the Family……………………………….....................19 Cultural / Religious Beliefs and the Family……………………………….............................22 Cultural / Religious Practices and the Family………………………………..........................25 The Contemporary American Jewish Family………………………………..........................29 Jewish community and the family………………………………....................................29 Jewish beliefs / practices and the family………………………………..........................33 The Future of Research on Contemporary Jewry………………………………....................39 Summary of Literature Review………………………………................................................42 CHAPTER 3. METHOD………………………………...............................................................45 Sample………………………………......................................................................................45 Design and Procedures……………………………….............................................................47 Data Collection………………………………........................................................................49 Data Analysis………………………………...........................................................................49 Qualitative Validity……………………..................................................................................50 Credibility………………………………..........................................................................51 Transferability………………………………....................................................................51 Dependability……………………………….....................................................................52 Confirmability………………………………....................................................................52 Reflexivity………………………………..........................................................................52 CHAPTER 4. FINDINGS………………………………..............................................................54 Theme 1. Family Influences Jewish Community Involvement...............................................55 Theme 2. Community Involvement Influences Family Life...................................................58 Theme 3. Jewish Religious Beliefs and the Family.................................................................65 Theme 4. Family Influences on Jewish Observance in the Home….......................................75 Subtheme 1. “They teach us:” How children influence parents........................................76 Subtheme 2. “Respect this tradition:” How parents influence children.............................81 Theme 5. Sabbath Observance in the Home............................................................................87 Subtheme 1. Sabbath traditions help form and maintain strong Jewish identity...............88 Subtheme 2. Sabbath facilitates peace and relaxation.......................................................91 Subtheme 3. Sabbath traditions unify the family...............................................................93 iv CHAPTER 5. DISCUSSION…...................................................................................................101 Implications............................................................................................................................103 Theory implications.........................................................................................................103 Research implications......................................................................................................106 Practice implications........................................................................................................110 Limitations……………………………………............………………………………….…112 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................114 REFERENCES............................................................................................................................116 APPEDNIX A. STATEMENT OF INFORMED CONSENT.....................................................140 APPENDIX B. DEMOGRAPHIC SUMMARY FORM.............................................................141 APPENDIX C. INTERVIEW QUESTIONS...............................................................................142 APPENDIX D. TABLE OF FINDINGS.....................................................................................143 APPENDIX E. INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD APPROVAL FORM............................145 VITA............................................................................................................................................146 v ABSTRACT Both family and religion are important to a large majority of the population in the United States. In the last few decades, research on religious families has significantly increased. Empirical research on Jewish families, however, is scant. The purpose of this study is to explore contemporary American Jewish family life in relation to Judaism, both cultural and religious. Specifically, the two primary objectives of this study are 1) to examine how Jewish culture and religion