Gender Differences in the Construction of Spirituality, Work, Learning, and Community by Baalei Teshuvah

This paper explores the question, “How do Jewish men and women who have become Orthodox (baalei teshuvah) compare in their constructions of spirituality, work, learning, religious practices, and community?” It is based on a qualitative research study that included interviews with 48 baalei teshuvah (24 men, 24 women), two focus groups, and ten key informant interviews. Participants were from the East Coast of the USA. We found the women more affirmative about their spirituality and feelings about community; men identified with these experiences but not the terminology. The men gave more attention to work and to their struggles integrating work and religion. The women expressed excitement about learning whereas the men conveyed self-consciousness over their language and learning deficiencies.     

Leaders as attachment figures: leaders' attachment orientations predict leadership-related mental representations and followers' performance and mental health

In 3 studies, the authors examined the contribution of leaders' attachment styles to their leadership motives and beliefs and to followers' outcomes. In Study 1, participants completed measures of attachment orientation, leadership motives, self-representations, and leadership style. Studies 2 and 3 were conducted within Israeli military units either during a leadership workshop or during intensive combat training. Israeli military officers and their soldiers (followers) reported on their attachment styles, and the soldiers reported on the officers' leadership qualities and on the soldiers' own performance and mental health. Leaders' attachment anxiety was associated with more self-serving leadership motives and with poorer leadership qualities in task-oriented situations. Leaders' attachment anxiety also predicted followers' poorer instrumental functioning. Leaders' attachment-related avoidance was negatively associated with prosocial motives to lead, with the failure to act as a security provider, and with followers' poorer socioemotional functioning and poorer long-range mental health. Results are discussed with respect to the value of attachment theory for the study of leadership.     

Fairy Tales—a Royal Road to the Child Within the Adult

Concepts from the history of neuroscience and neuropsychology are introduced as a background to current research findings with emphasis on the neuropsychology of memory. The author thinks that psychoanalysis should be interested in this research, but is critical of establishing a new discipline, the so-called neuropsychoanalysis.     

“The Lesser of Two Evils”: Islamic Law and the Emergence of a Broad Agreement on Muslim Participation in Western Political Systems

Through an analysis that focuses on wasati and salafi fatwas, but searches also beyond them, this article demonstrates the emergence of a broad agreement (albeit not a consensus) in Islamic jurisprudence on the permissibility of political participation in the West. This broad agreement is based primarily on jurists’ evaluation, drawing on ‘fiqh al-muwazanat’ (the jurisprudence of balances) that, in some cases, participation brings more benefit (maslaha) than harm (mafsada). The article comparatively examines wasati and salafi approaches to politics and to Muslim minorities to explain why jurists who disagreed on other fundamental issues in the field of fiqh al-aqalliyyat al-Muslima (the religious law of Muslim minorities) reached similar (but not identical) conclusions on political participation. Based on this analysis, a revision of some prevailing categorizations of salafiyya is suggested. Deliberations by some salafis, jihadi-salafis and members of Hizb al-Tahrir who oppose political participation and their refutations of the justifications invoked by jurists who legitimized it are also examined.     

Reference to Emotion States During Narrative Co‐Construction With Three‐Year‐Old Kibbutz Children: Comparison of Mother–Child and Metapelet–Child Dyads

In this study of young kibbutz children, we considered similarities and differences between mother–child dyads and metapelet (nonmaternal female caregiver)–child dyads on their rates of mentioning positive and negative emotion states and emotion calls during narrative co‐construction from a text‐free picture book illustrating emotionally charged situations. Thirty‐two kibbutz children approximately 3 years of age, their mothers, and their metaplot (i.e., plural of metapelet) were observed during co‐construction from the picture book. All participants (mothers, metaplot, children with mothers, and children with metaplot) mentioned more negative emotion states and emitted more negative emotion calls than positive ones. Children mentioned less emotion states than adults. No differences were found between mothers and metaplot in the number of emotion states mentioned, but mothers used significantly more emotion calls than did the metaplot, and their children tended to reciprocate. The influence of the context and type of relationship on emotion regulation is discussed.     

Sexual Contact Between Psychologists and Their Former Therapy Patients: Psychoanalytic Perspectives and Professional Implications

Data was analyzed from the semi-structured interviews of 6 heterosexual male psychoanalytic psychotherapists who by self-report had not engaged in a post-termination sexual involvement. The focus of each interview was to elicit the participants' views about sexual contact between psychotherapists and their former therapy patients, as well as their related attitudes towards Standard 4.07 of the APA Ethics Code (1992). The results suggested great disparity of opinion regarding what might constitute acceptable, ethical behavior in this domain. Nonetheless, all the clinicians agreed that the potential for harm resulting from post-termination sexual involvements was great, They all shared the beliefs that transference did not resolve with termination, that professional responsibilities continued after treatment ended, and that power differentials between therapist and patient lingered, perhaps in perpetuity. However, it was determined to be premature to replace the current Standard 4.07 with an absolute prohibition against sexual involvements between therapists and their former patients.     

Adjustment to divorce: a preliminary study among Muslim Arab citizens of Israel

Adjustment to divorce in a sample of 312 Muslim Arab citizens of Israel was associated both with variables that have been shown to affect adjustment to divorce in Western societies and with variables specific to the culture of the study. The former included male gender, education, current employment, fewer accompanying stressors, and greater satisfaction with the divorce process. The latter were the respondents' self-defined modernity (as opposed to traditionalism) and their disinclination to perceive divorced persons as bad parents and spouses and as socially deviant, in accord with the social stereotype of their community.     

Ramadan in Iceland: A Tale of Two Mosques

During the month of Ramadan, Muslims are required to fast from dawn to the beginning of the night. During summers in Nordic states, this means daily fasts of more than 18 hours. Two religio-juristic opinions have emerged regarding this challenge: one requires strict adherence to the commands of the Qur'an so long as night and day are distinguishable; the other encourages fasting the same number of hours as in Mecca and Medina or a nearby country where the duration of the day is moderate. This article offers an overview of these opinions, their development and how they resist common distinctions between ‘pragmatic' and ‘strict' juristic panels. On the basis of a field study conducted during 2015 in two mosques in Reykjavik, it also explores the division among Iceland's tiny minority of devout Muslims over this issue, and the contesting justifications given by leaders and attendees of the two mosques for their respective views. The discussion demonstrates the conflation of transnational and local influences (including satellite television channels) that contribute to the diffusion of fatwās in Europe, and the limited utility of the labels wasa?ī and salafī in predicting the actual practices of individuals and communities.     

The effect of affective bibliotherapy on clients' functioning in group therapy

Abstract The effect of affective group bibliotherapy (GB) was compared to affective group therapy (GT) on patients' functioning in therapy and their session impression. Three small groups totaling twenty-five in-patients in a hospital in Israel participated in the study. Clients concurrently participated in both group types, undergoing three sessions in each condition. In-therapy behaviors were assessed through the Client Behavior System (CBS; Hill & O'Brien, 1999). Results indicated that in the GB condition compared to the GT condition, clients showed less resistance, used simple responses less frequently, and expressed greater affective exploration. The Session Evaluation Questionnaire (SEQ; Stiles et al., 1994) was used to measure clients' impressions of the sessions. Results indicated that patients evaluated the two treatment conditions equally. Overall, the results support earlier findings, suggesting that affective bibliotherapy can be an effective method of treatment.     

Identifying and Dissolving the Non-Identity Problem

Philosophers concerned with procreative ethics have long been puzzled by Parfit’s Non-Identity Problem (NIP). Various solutions have been proposed, but I argue that we have not solved the problem on its own narrow person-affecting terms, i.e., in terms of the identified individuals affected by procreative decisions and acts, especially future children. Thus, the core problem remains unsolved. This is a nagging concern for all who hold the common intuition that actions that harm no one are permissible. I argue against Harmon’s and Woodward’s direct, narrow person-affecting solutions, and in favor of a new solution to the NIP. My solution, or, rather, dissolution, is based on the argument that merely possible people, i.e., hypothetical people who could possibly, but will not actually, exist, are morally irrelevant. I show that the NIP only arises when we concern ourselves with merely possible people. Once we are careful to restrict our concerns to only those that do or will exist, the NIP is dissolved.