The Russian Jews have come and they want to get married...
An Immigrant Group in a Rush to Marry Young
Published: December 13, 2004
By GINIA BELLAFANTE
From the New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/13/nyregion/13bride.html

As a girl growing up in Ukraine, Galit Galak wove macramé and dreamed of wedding dresses, the kind measured in kilometers of satin.

After five years spent studying design in Israel, Ms. Galak, 33, moved to New York and opened a bridal shop in the Sheepshead Bay section of Brooklyn, where she began making dresses as big and engineered as any painted by Fragonard. Her own occasion to wear such a garment came when she married another Ukrainian, who proposed after an appraisal period of 10 days.

Opening a bridal store in one of New York's Russian-speaking neighborhoods is, it turns out, about as risky as erecting a surf shop on the Pacific Coast Highway. Among the wave of newcomers to the United States since the late 1960's, Russian-speaking women appear to be the likeliest to marry of all.

By the time they turn 40, only 4 percent of women born in Russia or one of the other former Soviet republics have never married, compared with 15 percent for all women in that age group in the United States. Even among other ethnic groups, they stand out, with a rate of never-married women that is less than half that of foreign-born Chinese and a third that of foreign-born Hispanics, according to an analysis of 2000 census data for The New York Times.

By age 40, Russian-speaking women in the United States have higher rates of divorce than all other major groups of female immigrants, according to the 2000 census, but that may just reflect their higher rate of marriage.

Russian-speaking women in the United States also seem inclined to marry at a younger age than most. A continuing study, the Immigrant Second Generation in Metropolitan New York, begun in 1998, found that Russian Jewish women ages 18 to 32 married earlier than any other group of women surveyed. Half were married by age 22. (National census data for 2003 shows the average age for a woman's first marriage was 25.3)

Although most women who immigrated from the former Soviet Union from the 1970's through 1990's were Jewish, experts in that group's immigration say the pattern of early marriage is attributable to cultural family patterns that transcend religious beliefs, and is thus likely to extend to all Russian-speaking immigrants. They tend to follow the example of their parents, many of whom married in their early 20's.

Alla Farber-McEntee, 33, who arrived in Brooklyn with her family in 1981 as a 10-year-old from the republic of Belarus, said: "I think in general, Russian families are very close, and older generations help out younger ones and thus the younger ones are highly influenced by their parents and even grandparents."

In contrast to contemporary American culture, where marriage at too young an age is viewed as irresponsible, "marriage in this community is generally considered a good thing, especially if it is to someone seen as a quote-unquote good guy," said Aviva Zeltzer-Zubida, an assistant professor of sociology at Brooklyn College who has studied Russian immigrants in New York.

"The community really does promote it," said Esther Leviev, speaking of early marriages. Ms. Leviev grew up in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn after her family immigrated from Uzbekistan in 1987; she will marry next month at the age of 20. Her fiancé, also from Borough Park, is 21. The couple met through friends and became engaged one month later. "Seventeen would be considered too young, but if you were 26 and not married people would wonder why," Ms. Leviev said.

At Marie Shall, another wedding dress shop with a largely Russian clientele, the owner, Marina Shalyakhova, said the oldest bride she ever had was 30.

The decision to marry early may also be rooted in a cultural aversion to protracted dating. Ms. Farber-McEntee said, "You start dating a Russian and things progress pretty quickly." Russian men, her sister Elizabeth Kravtsova said, "just don't have the commitment issues American men do."

The focus on marriage in the Russian-speaking community explains a curious entrepreneurial gambit: a magazine called Russian Bride of New York. Founded this year by a hairdresser named Alex Aranbaev, who immigrated to the United States from Samarkand, Uzbekistan, the bilingual magazine (circulation 60,000) exists as a kind of Martha Stewart Weddings for young women of Soviet heritage. There are more than 200,000 such single women in the United States, over a quarter of them in the New York metropolitan area. Mr. Aranbaev envisioned a magazine that would interpret American wedding rituals while at the same time promote the preservation of Russian tastes.

The fall issue encourages the purchase of bridal gowns from Russian purveyors in the outer boroughs and taking honeymoons in the Seychelles or Fiji - destinations that would allow readers, the editors make note, to follow the examples of Michelle Pfeiffer and Bill Gates.

Featured as well is a short instructional explaining just what a cake should look like in the American marriage celebration. "A traditional wedding cake is white and pink in color and has a number of layers," the editors wrote. "The design can be anything you want, ranging from a lady's hat to an elephant or an automobile."

Ms. Leviev realizes that her decision to marry at 20 is unusual by American standards. Her Jewish American friends at Yeshiva University, where she is a student, do not believe in getting married before they have finished their degrees, she has observed. Even her parents had hoped she would defer marriage until after graduation, but Ms. Leviev did not see the point. On the dating habits of young Russians, she said: "Your attitude is that you are doing it for a higher purpose. A lot of people in the American community seem to date so that they have something to talk about with a friend at dinner."

"If you are going out with someone for two years and you haven't figured out some integral part of the relationship and you're not sure and you don't know, then you shouldn't be together."

Ms. Farber-McEntee said she believed that foreshortened periods of dating had much to do with a mind-set entrenched in a relatively more goal-oriented approach to life. "As early as high school because of our 'Russian mentality' we tend to date more seriously, looking at every boyfriend as possible husband material - rather than casually dating, without considering the future," she said in an e-mail message.

Weddings themselves in the Russian-speaking world, one quickly learns from a glance at Russian Bride, are not occasions for a lily-of-the-valley brand of minimalism.

A few weeks ago, Tali Arabov, 21, and Avi Levy, 22, held their 500-person wedding - a size typical in the Russian-speaking community - at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury, N.Y. The cocktail hour, which preceded the ceremony, included a vast pasta bar and an offering of sushi in a miniature gondola.

Serving as master of ceremonies was Yuhan Benyaminov, an immigrant from Uzbekistan who has given himself the stage name Yunan Benjamin and has become the most sought-after wedding singer in Russian-speaking New York. Before the service was conducted he announced the entrance of every member of the bride and groom's extended family ("Let's hear it for Molly and Yakov!"), and then, ultimately, the rabbi, as if the rabbi were Elton John making an unscheduled appearance at Royal Albert Hall.

Registries and gifts of blenders or fish knives are unheard of at a Russian wedding. The receptions themselves are often paid for in large part by the community, Mr. Aranbaev said, meaning that guests know to bring an envelope with a sum of money equal to the cost of the per-plate price at a particular catering hall or restaurant.

The ambivalent attitudes toward assimilation that pervade Russian Bride remain apparent in many aspects of young Russian life. The Second Generation project found that young Russians tended to stay close to home for college, typically living with parents through the undergraduate years and until marriage, while those from other immigrant groups ventured farther away.

Although young Russian women living in the United States remain intensely tied to the world of their elders, they are also marrying outside their ethnicity more than young women from any other large immigrant group, analysis from the 2000 census conducted for this article indicated. More than 25 percent of women 18 to 40 years old born in Russia or one of the other former Soviet republics have been marrying outside their Russian- and Soviet-émigré community.

Explaining this, Philip Kasinitz, a director of the Second Generation project and a professor of sociology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, said that it is often more important for Russian Jews to marry within the Jewish faith than it is within the Russian world.

Others speculate that young Russian women may marry outside their community because they received a poor view of Russian unions as they played out during the Soviet era. "Alcoholism and sexual infidelity were encouraged in the culture of the Soviet Union," said Tony Carnes, a sociologist at Columbia and a director of the Research Institute for New Americans. "Many of those marriages were not exclusive. A single woman who is here may have seen some of that and wanted to find stable partnership without going into the Russian context."

On the day after Thanksgiving at Galit Couture, Ms. Galak's shop, Monica Polakov, 29, a Ukrainian who grew up in Great Neck, readied herself for her coming wedding to an Englishman. Her mother, Galina, looked on adoringly as she stepped into her corseted gown. Still, Mrs. Polakov said, she wished that her daughter had found cause to wear it a good few years sooner.

- posted by Izak @ 3:13 AM (1) comments

 
While most secular children go to Public Schools, the more religious go to growing Day Schools and Yeshivas
Day Schools Show Continued Growth:
Enrollment up in Orthodox and non-Orthodox schools, according to new census.
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=10223

By Gary Rosenblatt - Editor And Publisher (of the New York Jewish Week)
http://www.thejewishweek.com/

Day school enrollment around the country grew by 11 percent in the last five years, according to a new census, and if present trends continue, there will be a nearly 25 percent increase in the decade between 1999 and 2009.

While non-Orthodox schools showed modest growth, more than 80 percent of the 205,000 students nationwide are in Orthodox schools, and 68 percent of all day schools in the country are in New York and New Jersey. (In New York, which has more than 300 day schools and yeshivas, 97 percent of the schools are Orthodox.)

Marvin Schick, an educational consultant who headed the study sponsored by the Avi Chai Foundation, noted that day schools have become virtually mandatory among Orthodox families, and that fact, combined with the high birth rate in the community, “ensures continuing enrollment growth.”

Schick pointed out that the 7 percent growth rate of non-Orthodox day schools in the last five years is noteworthy because it took place during a period of increasing tuition costs and a troubled economy.

The study, which found “a measure of change within a pattern of overall stability,” was completed during a period of growing consensus among Jewish leaders and educators that a day school education is the best insurance of a strong Jewish identity for youngsters in this era of growing assimilation.

But the overwhelming majority of Jewish students attend public schools, in part because of the community’s longtime support of public school education, financial concerns about day school tuition (averaging around $5,000 a year per child), a sense that a day school education is too parochial in 21st century America and the perception that secular studies in day schools are less competitive than in other schools.

Schick said the “impressive” growth rate of day schools masks some serious problems, including the continuing economic burden for parents, the shortage of top educators, particularly principals, and the decline among Solomon Schechter (Conservative) schools nationally, despite the success of several in the New York metropolitan area.

Non-denominational community schools are increasing — there are 20 more than five years ago — and account for the growth in enrollment of such schools of 17 percent.

In all, the study found 759 schools, an increase of about 80 in the last five years.

The report defines six categories of Orthodox schools:

1) Centrist,

2) Chabad,

3) Chasidic,

4) Immigrant/Outreach,

5) Modern

6) Yeshiva World.

Less delineated are the variations within the non-Orthodox, but it mostly consists of students from Conservative homes.

Only 2 percent of all enrolled day school students are Reform, and there has been a small decline in that category in the last five years.

Yossi Prager, executive director of Avi Chai in New York, said the goal of the census was “to determine the extent to which the day school movement continues to grow.” He said Avi Chai was “reasonably pleased” by the results. He and other experts noted there are various ways to interpret some of the data in either a positive or negative light, depending on one’s inclination.

For example, Steve Bayme, the national director of contemporary Jewish life for the American Jewish Committee, pointed out that in 1960, there were only 90,000 students in day schools, compared to more than 200,000 today. “There has been a major growth in the acceptability of day schools across the board,” he said, along with the perception that young people can go on to gain placement at top colleges.

But Bayme also explained that a long-term problem remains, namely that non-Orthodox families are still reluctant to send their children to a day school past bar or bat mitzvah age. Most of the enrollment in non-Orthodox schools is in preschool and lower grades.

The Schick study finds a steep decline after eighth grade, “with the ninth grade having fewer than half of the students of the grade below,” according to the report.

“Obviously,” Schick writes, “a full-day Jewish high school is not yet the cup of tea for a majority of non-Orthodox students.”

Bayme bemoaned the fact that “at the very moment that the day school can make the biggest difference in Jewish literacy, that’s when we lose so many children.”

He said a critical challenge for the Conservative and Reform communities is to “break into the high school years.”

Prager agreed that there has been more focus by philanthropists and communal leaders on attracting families to Jewish day schools than on transitioning youngsters from a Jewish junior high to a Jewish high school and from Jewish kindergarten to a day school first grade. He said that suggests the need for better feeder systems, stronger relationships between the current and potential future school and an improved “curriculum alignment.”

But the study points out that while the decline in high school enrollment may be viewed as “disappointing,” particularly in light of the major investment a number of philanthropies have made in creating and advocating for Jewish high schools for the non-Orthodox, the actual number of students in such high schools has grown from 1,500 in 1992 to 2,200 five years ago to 4,100 this year.

Avi Chai, which focuses on projects to promote Jewish education, has created several programs to help ease the burden of tuition on parents, like halving the cost for schools in some communities to see if that would dramatically increase enrollment. So far, says Prager, the financial relief definitely helps, but is not the only factor.

Parents remain concerned about the quality of education in day schools and of having their children study and socialize only with other Jewish children. He called the report’s findings that non-Orthodox enrollment growth is less than that of five years ago “a wake up call for philanthropists and community leaders” seeking to promote day school education.

The census also found that almost 40 percent of all day schools have fewer than 100 students, suggesting that keeping such schools afloat is a serious challenge. In general, Schick found a migration of more observant families to the New York metropolitan area, in part because of educational concerns.

One very small but noteworthy development is that more than 1,000 students in day schools are non-Jews who make no claim on Judaism. Some schools accept them for financial reasons. Prager called the situation “not a big issue but potentially dangerous.”

Schick, who has visited more than 400 day schools around the country, told The Jewish Week that while many face serious financial challenges and may not have the labs, libraries,and other facilities found in most public schools, the Jewish schools are able to offer “the opportunity for Judaic growth and an atmosphere for intellectual and spiritual development that can overcome easily recognizable faults.”

He said he looks for empathy among teachers and administrators, and schools that have more than one approach for reaching children, and he cautions parents who are over-involved in their children’s studies, homework and grades to step back a bit and let the youngsters grow at their own pace.

“I see my job as looking for the good in schools, not the bad,” Schick said, and stressed that schools have an obligation to students to increase, not reduce, their sense of self-esteem.

- posted by Izak @ 9:41 PM (0) comments

 
Lots of Jewish Studies / Judaic Studies in Academia Today
Jewish studies

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Written by SIMSHALOM for Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/ ) at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_studies

Please note the information at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License
if you plan on using this article in any way.

Jewish studies also known as Judaic studies is a subject area of study available at many colleges and universities in the Western World.

Traditionally, Jewish studies was part of the natural practice of Judaism by Jews. The study of Torah, Tanakh, and Talmud was all part of every-day religious life for the Jewish people. Since the Renaissance and the growth of higher education through universities in modern times, and following the mass-secularization of most Jews today, many people, including people not of the Jewish faith, have chosen to study Jewish studies as a means of understanding the Jewish religion, heritage, and Jewish history.

For the minority of Jews who are religious, there are opportunities at Orthodox Judaism yeshivas or at institutions such as at Conservative Judaism's Jewish Theological Seminary and the Reform Judaism Hebrew Union College. For the majority of Jewish students attending regular academic colleges and universities there is a growing choice of Jewish studies courses and even degrees available at many institutions.

The subject of the Holocaust and the associated phenomenon of Anti-Semitism as well as the rise of the modern State of Israel and the revival of the modern Hebrew language have all stimulated unusual interest in greater in-depth academic study, research, reading and lecturing about these core areas of knowledge related to current events.

The political situation in the Middle East, especially the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has raised the profile of Jews, Judaism, and Zionism on campuses, spurring many on to study these subject for non-degree as well as for credits in obtaining a BA or MA degree. A growing number of mature students are even obtaining PhDs in Jewish studies judging by the quantity of courses and programs available. Many hope to obtain employment in the field of Jewish education.

Many Christians are searching for an understanding of the Jewish background for Jesus and Christianity and for the source of monotheism that sprang from Judaism. There are those who are seeking an understanding of the complex and volatile relationship between Islam and Judaism. Others are searching for spirituality and philosophy and therefore seek classes in Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) and Jewish philosophy. There are also those who have a genuine concern and attachment to modern Israel as Christian Zionists and therefore seek to learn more about the subjects related to their beliefs.

The following are only a few significant examples of places where Jewish studies are offered and flourish in an academic setting:

1 Harvard
2 Yeshiva University
3 SUNY Albany
4 Princeton
5 Oxford
6 Virginia
7 Cornell
8 External links


1 Harvard

Harvard University was the first major American university to establish a department of Judaic Studies and appointed Dr. Harry Austryn Wolfson as the first head of department:

"The Center for Jewish Studies at Harvard University is the focal point for the study and teaching of Judaica through publications, fellowships, lectures, and symposia on topics of interest to scholars and to the general public. The Center sponsors visiting scholars and post-doctoral research fellows and coordinates undergraduate and graduate studies on an interdisciplinary basis...Harvard was the first university in America to establish a Chair in Jewish Studies, the Nathan Littauer Professorship of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy (1925). Since then, Harvard's commitment to Jewish Studies has continued unabated, and its efforts to solidify and broaden the presence of this field in the curriculum ultimately resulted in the creation of Harvard's Center for Jewish Studies in 1978. The hope of the Harvard alumni, faculty and administration involved in this project was that the new Center would not only satisfy an unmistakable need for further growth within the University itself but would also benefit the study and teaching of Judaica throughout the country." See http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~cjs/

2 Yeshiva University

Yeshiva University facilitates the study of academic and professional disciplines. Its leadership is Modern Orthodox Judaism and it offers a wide range of Judaic studies such as Talmud and Jewish law. See their home page at http://www.yu.edu/

3 SUNY Albany

"The Judaic Studies (JST) department at UAlbany offers undergraduate courses at elementary and advanced levels, many of which are cross-listed with other departments. Practicum credit may be earned by assisting with course instruction and Internship credit through community service. A major and minor in Judaic studies is offered. Many students take advantage of the SUNY-wide Israel study program for a semester or year overseen by the JST department. Students may apply for department sponsored scholarships." See http://www.albany.edu/judaic_studies/

4 Princeton

"The Program in Judaic Studies at Princeton University provides students the opportunity to explore over three millennia of Jewish culture, history, and literature from the Bible to contemporary Jewish thought and society. Since its establishment in 1996, the program has offered a variety of courses, lectures, conferences, film series, and exhibitions taking advantage of Princeton’s rich resources in Judaic studies in a range of disciplines and departments. There is no “typical” certificate student; we serve students with a wide range of interests and welcome all who are motivated to deepen their knowledge of Judaic studies." See http://www.princeton.edu/~judaic/

5 Oxford

"This nine-month course offers a chance to study Judaism at many different stages in its history - from its roots as the religion of the Israelites to the 20th century - as well as the opportunity to develop a language important to the knowledge, understanding, practice and interpretation of the Jewish faith (or learn a language from scratch, as I have done). The plethora of choice on the taught courses ensures that students can begin or further and expand their studies in any area which interests them, whatever their experience or background in the subject. The course is a springboard to a variety of future careers: many students choose to build on what they have studied at PhD level; some, like me, use the course to further their learning prior to undertaking formal teacher training. Whether your interest in the subject is personal or academic, the MSt at Oxford offers a challenging and wide-ranging course of study." See http://users.ox.ac.uk/~ochjs/students/

6 Virginia

"Jewish Studies at the University of Virginia allows you to focus on the history, languages, and literature of the Jewish people; the beliefs and practices of Judaism; and the enduring contributions of Jewish wisdom to human civilization. You can take courses in Biblical and Modern Hebrew, Yiddish, Bible, Rabbinic literature, Jewish ancient and modern history, Jewish literature and culture, Holocaust studies, Jewish theology, and Jewish communities and cultures worldwide. As part of your studies, you can study abroad in Israel or in other centers of Jewry beyond America." See http://www.virginia.edu/jewishstudies/

7 Cornell

"The Program of Jewish Studies was founded as an extension of the Department of Semitic Languages and Literatures, now the Department of Near Eastern Studies, in 1973 and attained status as an intercollegiate program in 1976. The program has grown out of the conviction that Judaic civilization merits its own comprehensive and thorough treatment and that proper understanding of any culture is inconceivable without adequate knowledge of the language, literature, and history of the people that created it. Accordingly, the offerings in the areas of Jewish languages and literatures have been considerably expanded, and courses in ancient, medieval, and especially modern Jewish history and culture have been added to the program. It is a broadly based, interdisciplinary program, bringing together faculty from various Cornell departments and colleges. The scope of the Jewish Studies curriculum covers Jewish civilization from its ancient Near Eastern origins through its contemporary history and culture in Israel and the diaspora communities around the world. It is a secular, academic program, the interests of which are diverse and cross-cultural. The program recognizes its special relationship to teaching and research in classical Judaica and Hebraica pursued by the members of the Department of Near Eastern Studies. It presently enables students to obtain basic instruction and specialization in the fields of Semitic languages; the Hebrew Bible; medieval and modern Hebrew literature; ancient, medieval, and modern Jewish history; and Holocaust studies. In some of these fields students may take courses on both graduate and undergraduate levels. Faculty throughout the university provide breadth to the program by offering courses in related areas of study." See http://www.arts.cornell.edu/jwst/gen.html

External links

1 The Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies: http://users.ox.ac.uk/~ochjs/

2 Academic Jewish Studies Internet Directory: http://jewishstudies.virtualave.net/

3 Middle East and Jewish Studies at Columbia University: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/mideast/cuvlm/

4 The Association for Jewish Studies: http://www.brandeis.edu/ajs/

5 Jewish Studies Resources: Judaic Studies Program at Princeton University: http://www.princeton.edu/~pressman/jewish.html

6 Index of Jewish Studies Newsletters: http://www.h-net.msu.edu/~judaic/newsletters/

7 Rutgers University Religion Department: Jewish Studies: http://religion.rutgers.edu/vri/judaic.html

8 Jewish Studies Program at Indiana University: http://www.indiana.edu/~jsp/

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Categories: Judaic studies in academia
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- posted by Izak @ 5:26 AM (0) comments