"The Jewish Family" Revisited

Publication Date: December 1983

Publisher: Jewish Communal Service Association of North America

Author(s): Norman Linzer; Efrem Nulman

Research Area: Social conditions

Keywords: Family; Social Work; Jewish Continuity

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

The authors revisit an article they wrote for the 1982 edition of the Journal of Jewish Communal Service, entitled “The Jewish Family: Authority and Tradition in Modern Perspective.” Here they reexamine their understanding of the authority-independence issue in the Jewish family and its implications for treatment in family therapy. They see the Jewish family as existing within a dual institutional framework—the family and religion. This dual framework serves as a mutually reinforcing guide for the behavior of family members as Jews. In an age where choices abound, families that choose to "be Jewish" are supported in their efforts through their dual institutional auspice, along with communal plausibility structures.

In Journal of Jewish Communal Service, 60: 2.