rebeca davis

I felt professor Devis' presentation was very appropriately organized. Something I admire about the Jewish religion and the leaders is their awareness of our changing society and willingness to accept, adopt, and adapt to major changes in out society over time in a very positive and civil manner. The example presented in this lecture was how Jews dealt with rising divorce rated and the decrease in religious participation during WWII. They adapted to the new social situation and the Jewish leaders (as well as other American leaders at the time) developed marriage counseling. However, apparently the counseling focused not on the couples, but on the impact the couples divorce would have on the current and uprising Jewish community. With this comes several unanswered questions for me. To me, it seemed like the leaders were more concerned with the reputation of the Jewish community and how the divorces could make them all look. I would like to know why they were more concerned with that rather than the happiness of two fellow members of the community, weather married or single so be it. Aside from all that... I was slightly disappointed that the lecture lacked any solid body. For me some of her thoughts ideas and points that she tired to present seemed like incomplete thoughts. But i still mostly enjoyed it none the less.

Amy Zitelman response to Julie Nemeth

The beginning of the lecture was really interesting.  I think it is important for people to understand the psychology behind what makes people or act the way they do.  College students are a crucial age to study.  The idea of attachment and separation in college students is significant and very interesting.

However, I do not understand why she thought that Jewish college students would be any different.  I once did a project for a Jewish History class in High School.  The project focused on immigrant generations and assimilation.  First generation Americans (most of our parents, for argument sake) are highly assimilated.  They assimilate as to escape the 'foreignness' of their parents who are immigrants.  Therefore, most of our parents raised us just as any American parents would.  Hence, there shouldn't be much difference between Jewish college students' relationships with their parents and other American college students.

I'm not really sure what else to say about this lecture due to the fact that there was not much talked about.  Everything she hypothesized turned out to be true.  And there was not much substance on the difference between Jews and non-Jews.  

I would have liked her to go into a bit more details about the fact that girls who are culturally Jewish have more self confidence and self esteem than Jews who are religiously Jewish.  This is an interesting and troubling statement.  I'm not really sure what I think about this subject other than believing that it is true.

A Response To Monika Shafi

I was really impressed by the amount of information imparted to us and the passion displayed by Monika Shafi.Her portrayal of a hidden Jewess demonstrated how, in spite of the worst humanitarian conditions,Gertrude Kolmar was able to cultivate an amazing inner Jewish spirit.Her literary work remains a living testimony that a Jewish women/poet can indeed have an impact on the course of history.
One incident though, I find confusing in Kolmar's life is the fact she had an abortion at the age of 24.We were told Kolmar had a romantic affair with a man,became pregnant and was most likely forced by her mother to abort the fetus.At the same time,Shafi made it a point to convey to us how much Kolmar understood herself as being different;whether because she was Jewish,a woman or a poet,her feelings of being different were a constant motif in her work.Yet Kolmar always seemed to circumvent these "obstacles".She produced an array of literary work when the odds were against her.So what was it about being a single mom that she could not overcome?Shafi proposed, at the time,it would have destroyed her father's lucrative,lawyer image.To me,this does not seem in line with the fortitude Kolmar displayed as an artist.Exactly the opposite!Kolmar did not value money or modernity or middle class propriety.Why then, did she succumb to the base level of the Nazis by murdering an unborn child?Shafi mentioned countless poems revealing Kolmar's sorrow and pain associated with this event.It seems she was weakened by the traumatic experience and the repercussions were far reaching.

Jewish Women's Psychological Well Being

I really enjoyed learning about the attachment and separation theory. I think it is interesting to study these behaviors and how they affect people later in life. It really shows how much parenting and the values you instill in your children carry through their entire lives. I never really thought about religion as having an affect on peoples separation and attachment issues. I was very intrigued by the study that was done where the results showed that girls who had a personal/inner Jewish identity had higher self esteem while girls who had a religious Jewish identity had lower self esteem. I wish she could have harped on this a little longer and we could have discussed more reasons for this. I felt like this discussion was a lot of buildup but nothing to really show for her study. A lot of her results were basic generalizations and didn't prove or disprove any correlation between religion and these theories. I wish a larger sample was used and more results could have been determined. Most of the results she showed were generalizations that seemed obvious to me. I was very interested in hearing more about the relationship between Judaism and college women's well being, and I don't think that her study showed anything that I wouldn't have figured obvious already. I did think that it was cool that women who had a stronger Jewish identity had lower levels of distress. I think that this speaks more to the fact that these women had a stronger sense of self and were tied to the morals and values that Judaism teaches you. It was curious that she said that if Jewish women come to her for help that she tries to get them to delve into their Jewish roots. I wouldn't think of this as a way to help others and their well-being and I'm not sure that starting to get into your religion in college necessarily would help you. If you have never felt a deep tie to the religion I'm not sure that this would be of a lot of assistance because most people just haven't had any interest in it. Overall, I liked the presentation but wished there were more conclusions that could have been drawn from her study.

i will not be posting for this week

Monika Shafi

I really enjoyed the lecture presented to us by Monika Shafi. I really enjoyed the in depth discussion about the life of Gertrud Kolmar and all the influences that really show up in her writing. I cannot fathom what it must have been like living in Nazi controlled Germany, let alone trying to be an female poet, which is extremely difficult not in war times. The fact that Kolmar was upper-middle class, she still did not let that deter her from realizing her dream is one of the great stories to come of the Holocaust. She really shows a lot of Jewish pride and the perseverance that has been exhibited through all the hardships and anti-Semitism over the years. The fact that she openly saw herself as isolated, yet didn’t let this affect her motivation is something that is truly inspiring. The fact that she was never discouraged from creating great poetry (probably more than we’ll ever know because of what was lost) is really amazing.

Laura Levitt's Talk

I find myself having a difficult time deciding what to write as a response to this week. Loss is something that I am all too familiar with. I am 20 years old, and I need more than my two hands in order to count the number losses that I consider "personal". I am 20 years old, and I have to actually sit down and almost write out a list of the number of people who have died in my recent past because there are so many that I can't readily think of them. Some died from natural causes. Some were taken prematurely. Many actually took their own life.
I guess I don't see how being Jewish has anything to do with loss. And if anyone has ever been envious or felt left out that they didn't have anyone in their past who died in the Holocaust, then I feel sorry for them. I feel sorry for them because if they even remotely have the nerve to be upset that someone in their family didn't DIE, then they obviously need to seriously re-evaluate their view of life and loss. Death is about being human; it is not about being Jewish. It is basic human nature, and while it brings relief to some, it brings grief to all.
I don't need to have someone in my family who died in the Holocaust. My papa was a doctor in WWII, and that's the closest that I have. But when I lost my papa, I cared more than I possibly could if I had never met him. Sure, he may have died in the war, he may have died a hero for his people. But he didn't die in the war--he died when he did, and he was a hero to me and everyone who knew him. I may not be able to identify with the others of current generations who lost someone in the Holocaust, but I can identify with those of the past. I can identify with those who were only 20 years old and needed more than their two hands to count the number of loses they considered "personal". I can identify with those who were only 20 years old and had to actually sit down and almost write out a list of the number of people who had died in their recent past because there were so many that they couldn't readily think of them. Some died from natural causes. Some were taken prematurely. Many actually took their own life. I can identify with them because I am one of them. Not because I'm Jewish, not because I'm not-Jewish, but because I'm human.
What have I learned from personal loss? I've learned that I need to keep going. I've learned that you only have one life, and even when all you want to do is make it end, you can't. You can't and you won't. So you say a little prayer, you go to sleep, you wake up in the morning, and you keep going. And it gets better. You will start to form a new spirituality, a new reason for living. You will start to teach others about what loss really is, so that they can be ready for it when the time comes. And you start to realize that yes, being given this position is not fair, but it's what you've got, and it was given to you for a reason, and so you make the best of it.
I don't know if this was really the response you were looking for, but I guess Laura's discussion just provoked a part of me that's been waiting to release its frustration. I don't know if I'm completely disagreeing with what she has to say, but I know that there are some areas of life which transcend any possible religious, cultural, national, or spiritual identity, and one of those areas is death.