Interview With Jewish Male - Essay Example

Interview with Jewish Male Abraham Kline is a 67 year old, Jewish male who s that he is an Orthodox Jew. We talked at length about many of his experiences and some of his ancestors. He did not go through the holocaust although some of his relatives did; is parents were brought to America before this happened. Abrahams Profile Abraham is a 67 year old man born in 1942. He is the oldest child of four. He and his parents were living in the United States when the Holocaust happened. He was raised to be an Orthodox Jew. There were no developmental disabilities that were shown and there were no disabilities acquired in life, although Abraham walks with a cane. He says this is just from old age. Abraham is a very spiritual man and a devote Orthodox Jew. This means that he lives a very different lifestyle than some Jewish people. Orthodox means that he is very entrenched in his faith, does many rituals and spends time with the Torah, the holy book of Jews. Both of his parents were Jewish and they lived in America. He was raised in America and identifies with Judaism from the old country as he calls it. Some of his relatives survived the Holocaust and he understands its ramifications, but his parents were already in America before this happened. Abrahams father was a tailor and he had learned this as a young man. His mother was a teacher. His family lived in America all their life. Abraham is a butcher which is a trade that he learned from another Orthodox Jew when he was a young boy. He stated that this was the way that Jewish people worked. They usually live together in communities in America and everyone gets to know each other he said. Abraham is a heterosexual man, there was no sign of indigenous heritage and his natural origin is American. In terms of gender, Abraham is a traditional Jewish male, and is the oldest of four children; he has a brother, and two sisters. He is the head of his family. Other Factors that May Influence Abraham Abraham is a butcher who provides kosher meat to the Jewish community. He does well in this occupation and he has many people who purchase from him. Occasionally, he sells to non-Jews who are interesting in having kosher meats. He has not said whether they treat him differently or not. He says that he has had a good life in America since he was a small boy. I saw sadness in his eyes however and it seemed to me that there was a lot that had happened to him that he was not willing to share. He said that his American identity was not as important in many ways because the Western world does not understand all things Jewish. He says that sometimes his friends who are not Jewish do not understand him and some think he is strange, especially when he is not open on Saturdays and closes early on Friday. It was clear to me that it was very important to understand a Jewish person in the counseling situation so that there would be a better rapport. Although I felt that Abraham and I were able to develop a rapport, it did not seem to be one that was free of barriers. Information from the Course According to Sue and Sue (2008), Jewish identity is an "intimate aspect for many Jews" (p. 421). For Abraham this was true because he was an Orthodox Jew. Although we did not directly talk about the challenges that he faced in America, it was clear through some of his stories that it was not necessarily easy to be Jewish in the early years. Sue and Sue suggest that many people are afraid of letting people know that they are Jewish today because of Anti-Semitism views by some Americans. However, Rastogi and Thomas (2009) suggest that these views have changed and there are Jews are more accepted today than they once were because they have not gone through the challenges that other non-white races have gone through (p. 122). This does not mean that sometimes Jewish people are still treated poorly because it will depend on the situation. Sue and Sue say that there are some Jews who are ashamed of their ethnic heritage but this did not seem to be the case with Abraham. He seemed cautious at times when he was talking about certain topics like faith and money, but he said that he did not feel ashamed to be a Jew. He enjoyed his life and his ethnic heritage and it had always helped him in tough times. Since this course studied counseling in different ways it was important to think about how I might have counseled Abraham in order to look deeper into the text and how it affects Jewish people. Sue and Sue say that counselors need to have information about the history of Anti-Semitism and how it affects the counselors identity. I particularly chose this group because I have had feelings about Jews in the past. I did not know many people who were Jewish so I had to rely on the little bits and pieces of information I knew. I thought it was interesting that the textbook said that it was important to consult with a Rabbi if you were counseling an Orthodox Jew. This would seem to be very important because of the devote belief. In Abrahams case, it would be important to make sure that the counselor consulted with the Rabbi because it would be important to make sure that the counselor did not violate any Jewish tenets. Schnall (2006) suggests that "minority groups tend to underutilize mental health services provided by the majority culture … (p. 276). This is what the text said and in relationship to Jewish clients, they would not necessarily come to a counseling session; instead, they would go to their Rabbi for consultation. This is another reason why talking to the Rabbi in this case would be important. Schnall points out that there are characteristics within the Western healthcare system that are not compatible with what is needed by the Orthodox Jewish community. Schnall calls this an "institutional barrier" that is important to consider. Also, "many Orthodox Jews view mental health workers as representatives of the unchaste and decadent secular world…" (p. 277). This would be something to take into consideration when working with Abraham. Another issue is that there are many subgroups and each has a different set of customs, they practice religion differently and they have different world views. This means that the counselor would need to understand more about Abraham and how he functions in the world. There would be different ideas of personal space between the counselors knowledge and that of the Jewish client. Schlosser (2006) reported on the use of affirmative psychotherapy with American Jews. He suggests that the therapist must know a lot about the culture of Jews in order to work with them. He calls Jews "an enigma" because they are difficult to classify into one demographic category because there is so much diversity in the culture. Also, there is no one way to be a Jew because there are many different ways to practice Judaism. Schlosser also points out that there will be different denominations of Judaism and Jewish heritage has a variety of roots. These are all issues that are important for the counselor to understand when they begin to work with Jewish clients. Shechtman and Halevi (2006) wanted to understand how to understand Jews in a group counseling situation. He studied 76 counseling trainees to see whether ethnicity was important to the group counseling process. They studied whether disclosure was different when there were different ethnicities present in the group counseling situations. Both Arabs and Jews were present in their groups. The results of the study showed that Arabs and Jewish clients did not show a difference in the amount of disclosure they used in the group. In fact, Arabs were more apt to disclose more than Jews. Also, both groups picked personal rather than learning goals to talk about within the group. The study was a small one but it shows that although ethnicity must take into consideration, it may or may not be important to group counseling. Rosmarin, Pirutinsky, Pargament, & Krumrei (2009) studied the issue of whether religious beliefs were relevant to mental health with Jews. Their interest in this area stemmed from the fact that there is a body of evidence that states that religion does influence mental health issues with other religions. Their study included 565 Jews and 40% (226) were Orthodox; the rest were not Orthodox. The Orthodox Jews were comprised of Hassidic, Yeshiva Orthodox and Modern Orthodox. The researchers created instruments to look at God in different ways and the participants were picked through invitation. What they found was that mental health issues were not strongly prominent in this group. They concluded that "the relevance of different facets of religiousness to mental health is not arbitrary but relates to doctrine-specific values and culture" (p. 186) which basically meant that each Jewish sect may have a different way in dealing with mental health issues. They also found that the way in which someone accepted Gods benevolence may have some bearing on anxiety and depression for the Orthodox Jews. The Complexity of Identity As the researchers have shown in this paper, identity can be a complex process. One of the reasons that identity is difficult is that people within any ethnic group are not the same. Because of the way that they are raised in their families, and because of outside influences, each person from an ethnic group can have very different experiences. The dominant European culture can also have an influence on an individuals ethnic experience. As an example, Hay (2008) states that some identity issues can be different than what the client experiences. Hay gives the example of LGBT people who experience the coming out process. The Western European ideal suggests that coming out is a linear process and that it has clear lines. However, a person of color coming out may experience more difficulty with their friends and families because of the way that their culture understands homosexuality (p. 71). Schnoor (2006) studied Jews who were also homosexual and adds more to this topic. His research found that Jews are brought up to believe in very traditional family values and specific gender roles. They must follow the laws of God and they must do as the Talmud and the Torah states. Because of this, many younger Jewish gays and lesbians feel disoriented from the Temple and have difficulty with staying in their religion. He states that the modern Jewish experience has gone through many changes. One of these changes was to go from a "collectivism" identity to one that is "personal" and "voluntarism" (p. 46). This translates into many Jews doing only the parts of Judaism that is pleasing to them. When gay Jews must find their own identity, having two identities makes it more difficult and the complexities of living in two worlds come to the forefront. Friedman, Friedlander, and Blustein (2005) point out that Jews are not "uniform" in their cultural identification" (p. 76), as stated elsewhere in this research. They explored the complexity of Jewish identity in order to see whether it changed over time. What they found was that the Orthodox Jewish participants saw their identity as Jews as more important than their American identity. The researchers thought that the more devotedly Jewish a participant was that they would have a stronger connection to their religious identity. However, all of the Jews in their study said they would like time for more religious study. Although Abraham never suggested that he needed counseling and this was not a therapeutic setting, I think it is very important for a counselor who is going to counsel Jewish people to understand the particular "type" of Jew that they are working with, and they should have a general understanding of Jewish culture. The research that has been done here has convinced this researcher that there is more to know than what was thought previously. This is an area that is up for study and it will become more important as time goes on in the worldview. REFERENCES Friedman, M.L., Friedlander, M.L., and Blustein, D.L, (2005). Toward an Understanding of Jewish Identity: A Phenomenological Study. Journal of Counseling Psychology. 52 (1). 77-83l. doi: 10.1037/0022-0167.52.1.77 Hays, P. (2008). Addressing cultural complexities in practice: Assessment, diagnosis, and therapy. 2nd Ed. DC: American Psychological Association. Rastogi, M. and Thomas, V. (eds), (2009). Multicultural couple therapy. CA: Sage Publications. Rosmarin, D.H., Pirutinsky, S., Pargament, K. I., & Krumrei, E.J. (2009). Are religious beliefs relevant to mental health among Jews? Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. 3 (1). 180-190. Retrieved February 7, 2010. doi: 10.1037/a0016728 Schlosser, L.Z. (2006). Affirmative psychotherapy for American Jews. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training. 43 (4). Special Issue: Culture, Race, and Ethnicity in psychotherapy. 424-435. Doi: 10.1037/0033- 3204.43.4.424. Schnall, E. Multicultural counseling and the Orthodox Jew. (2006). Journal of Counseling & Development. 84 (3). 276-282. Retrieved February 7, 2010 from Academic Search Premier. AN: 21639265. Schnoor, R.F. (2006). Being gay and Jewish: Negotiating intersecting identities. Sociology of Religion. 67 (1). 43-60. Retrieved February 7, 2010 from Academic Search Premier. AN: 20418453 Shechtman, Z. and Halevi, H. (2006). Does ethnicity explain functioning in group counseling? The case of Arab and Jewish counseling trainees in Israel. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research and Practice. 10 (3). 181-193. doi: 10.1037/1089- 2699.10.3.181. Sue, D.W., and Sue, D. (2008). Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice. 5th Edition. NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Read More