About the Project
Project Goals
- To explore the role of Jewish Identity in the experience of the developing
adolescent.
- To gain understanding of how adolescents come to understand themselves as
Jews, and how families, schools, and communities impact the development of
such an identity.
- To work together with schools and community organizations to investigate
these issues, and to incorporate our findings into Jewish educational
practice.
- To continue to explore the issues raised by our initial initiatives by widening the scope of our investigations.
Project Overview
This project is based on the efforts of an interdisciplinary, collaborative team of psychologists, researchers, students, and Jewish professionals. The issues listed above have been explored through surveys and interviews. Highlights of our findings and ongoing activities include:
- Findings concerning the inter-relatedness of issues of Jewish identity and
such areas as attitudes and interactions with people of differing
backgrounds and social skills and coping with stress. Such findings
highlight the central role played by Jewish identity in the life of the
developing adolescent.
- Interviews with parents and adolescents regarding what they consider to be
most important about being Jewish, and how Jewish identity develops. The
analysis of these data is ongoing.
- Temple-based pilot programs such as student-intern placements and the
development of an integrated community-oriented approach to Temple-based
education.
- Workshops for Jewish educators on a variety of topics including Jewish
Identity development, behavior management, and social problem solving.
- Collaborative curriculum development efforts with the Israeli Ministry of Education.