Rebecca Davis

I wasn't too thrilled about Rebecca Davis' lecture on putting family first in the 20th century. I found most of what she said very vague and I don't think she did a good job of explaining much of the reasoning behind why counseling was started and why it was more about the community than the family and the couple itself. I completely understand that there were a lot of changes during this time period with the sexual revolution, woman's rights movement, and teenagers developing new relationships with friends so there was need for some stability. I don't really get the idea of the community being the same concern. I understand that Rabbis wanted to keep their religious community in tact, but unless I'm wrong she focused more on the community as in towns. I think the idea of marriage counseling with religious leaders is important because there are usually topics that engaged peoples should discuss before marriage so that it won't become an issues later on. I'm not sure what I thought about all the case studies she showed us in class. I'm not sure whether it is just because I was raised in a Reform manner, but I would think that if converted Jews have legitimate intentions they should be accepted into the community and this should effect their children. However, in the studies she showed this was not the case. I wish she would have talked about todays society and what counseling is like now.