Farming the land on three continents: Bilu, Am Oylom, and Yefe-Nahar

Jewish agrarianization projects in Eastern Europe began in the late eighteenth century. This article compares three such movements that emerged in the Russian Empire: the colonization of the southern Ukraine that took place in the early decades of the nineteenth century, and, later, in the 1880s, the initiatives known as Am Oylom and Bilu. The founders of the colonies in the Ukraine combined the ideology of the Enlightenment with Russian imperial considerations, while the later movements were part of a radical Jewish avant-garde that aimed to create a “new” Jew, who would be a hardworking farmer and live in a cooperative community. Yet these visions could be realized only in a new land free of old, anti-Jewish political systems. Thus the place of social and economic rebirth would be “New Russia,” the United States, or Palestine, and regardless of location or time, the initiators of these enterprises all adopted a consistently productivist rhetoric. In addition, the settlement projects all unknowingly advanced the expanding colonialist interests of the governments of Russia, North America, and Palestine. A revised version of this paper was presented at the international conference “Beyond Eastern Europe: Jewish Cultures in Israel and the United States”, Rutgers University, March 2007.     

Attitudes Toward the Body in Suicidal,Depressed, and Normal Adolescents

Our purpose was to investigate the hypothesis that suicidal adolescents, compared with depressed nonsuicidal and nonsuicidal normal adolescents, display a more negative attitude toward their bodies. Scales for suicidal tendencies, dissociative tendencies, perception of actual versus ideal body features, and feelings toward the body were administered to the subjects. The suicidal subjects showed a larger perceived discrepancy between actual versus ideal body features and a more negative feeling toward the body, and scored higher on some aspects of dissociation than the normal group. The suicidal group also displayed more negative feelings toward the body and scored higher on some aspects of dissociation than the depressed group. A series of correlations showed that the higher the suicidal tendency, the higher the dissociation, the larger the discrepancy, and the stronger the negative feelings toward the body. The findings were explained as reflecting unique characteristics of suicidal individuals that develop from early trauma and sadomasochistic relationships. These characteristics may facilitate suicidal behavior.     

Some Common Characteristics of Latency-Age Suicidal Children: A Tentative Model Based on Case Study Analyses

ABSTRACT: Eleven latency-age (6 ½ to 12 ½) boys and girls who attempted or threatened suicide were investigated by means of the following information: intensive interviews, therapeutic meetings, direct observation in school, meetings with teachers, and survey of school records. The families of the children were also interviewed. In spite of the many differences between the children's personalities and backgrounds, some common dynamic features seemed to emerge: (a) There was a suicidal parent in the family, in most cases the mother; (b) Most of the families of these children were engaged in a major crisis, not necessarily centered around the suicidal child; (c) The children experienced demands by the parents to assume responsibilities which the children perceived as being beyond their capability; (d) There was a lack of satisfying relationships with adults; (e) Most children perceived death in a paradoxical way, believing that death was a need satisfying state yet fearing death; (f) The children showed strong positive strivings to say alive and were able to experience joy and happiness in spite of feelings of desperation and depression. A model based on the above multifaceted forces is presented. These forces consist of attractiveness of life, repulsiveness of life, attractiveness of death, and repulsiveness of death. Some of diagnostic and predictive uses of this model are elaborated.     

The Impact of a Suicide Prevention Program for Adolescents on Suicidal Tendencies,Hopelessness, Ego Identity,and Coping

Three-hundred ninety-three adolescents from six schools participated in a study aimed at examining the effectiveness of an experiential suicide prevention program with regard to suicidal tendencies, hopelessness, ego identity, and coping ability. The subjects were randomly divided into experimental (n = 215) and control (n = 178) groups. The experimental groups took part in seven weekly 2-hour meetings. The program was based on the notion that a gradual, controlled confrontation and exploration of inner experiences and life difficulties related to suicidal behavior accompanied by an emphasis on coping strategies can immunize against self-destructive feelings. In this pretest-posttest design, the students completed questionnaires of suicidal tendencies, hopelessness, ego identity, and coping ability before and after the program. The statistical analyses showed that the experimental groups were superior to the controls, with at least some of the dependent measures pointing out the effectiveness of the program.