Matrilineal Ascent/Patrilineal Descent: The Gender Imbalance in American Jewish Life

By Sylvia Barack Fishman, Daniel Parmer

Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, Maurice & Marilyn Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies (CMJS), 2008

Gender imbalance is a critical problem in American Jewish life not because women are more active but because men are less active. Little serious research and discussion have been addressed to this imbalance, partially because such analysis can be misinterpreted as a call for women to retreat from Jewish involvements. This monograph argues that a healthy and vibrant Jewish society requires the active engagement of both genders. We explore the implications of contemporary liberal American Jewish societies that comprise the vast majority of American Jewry, in which men are often not invested in and engaged by their Jewishness, presenting statistical and systematic interview data to look at the impact of gendered differences and re-analyzing more than 300 transcribed interviews.

Topic: Gender, Jewish Continuity, Men, Values

Genre: Other

Coverage: United States

Language: English

Copyright Information: Download for personal use, freely distribute link

Download here

Bibliographic Information:
Fishman, Sylvia Barack. Parmer, Daniel. Matrilineal Ascent/Patrilineal Descent: The Gender Imbalance in American Jewish Life. Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, Maurice & Marilyn Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies (CMJS). 2008: http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=931

The End of Jewish Men?

Some professors and rabbis are concerned that liberal Judaism is becoming too female. Is this a real crisis?

By Rebecca Tuhus-DubrowPosted Friday, June 24, 2011, at 1:00 PM ET

http://www.slate.com/id/2297575/

In 2007, an organization called the Men of Reform Judaism published a Haggadah intended for men-only Passover Seders. It tweaked the familiar rituals. Instead of solemnly intoning the 10 plagues that struck ancient Egypt—frogs, boils, lice, and so on—participants are asked to recite the scourges of manhood: impotence, hair loss, prostate cancer. In the introduction, the authors explain their motives for the enterprise: "Men need the company of men, to be men."

For the most part, gender segregation in Judaism, like strict Shabbat observance and the renunciation of shellfish, is a practice left to the Orthodox. Egalitarianism is a defining characteristic of the religion's more liberal wings (Reform, Reconstructionist, and Conservative, among others). But the men's Haggadah is one of several recent initiatives designed for men and boys alone. The 2007 Reform biennial convention hosted a men-only prayer service. In 2009, a book titled The Modern Men's Torah Commentary was released. This year, an organization called Moving Traditions launched a curriculum for teenage boys called "The Brotherhood," focusing on the "journey to manhood."

All of these measures come as a response to a perceived "feminization" of liberal Judaism: declining male involvement in both the leadership and laity, among some Reform and Reconstructionist, and to a lesser extent Conservative, Jews. In 2008, Brandeis professor Sylvia Barack Fishman coauthored a monograph, Matrilineal Ascent/Patrilineal Descent, based on survey data and her own interviews. On a range of metrics, she found Jewish men to be less invested in their religious identity and less active in synagogue life than Jewish women. Women typically wish to marry within the tribe and raise Jewish children, while men often expressed hostility toward Jewish women and religion generally. Fishman declared this disparity a "crisis." Predictably, spirited debate erupted in the Jewish press and blogosphere. Does liberal Judaism really have a serious gender imbalance?

Read the whole article here:

http://www.slate.com/id/2297575/

Y

The Y Chromosome is passed from generation to generation, father to son. The DNA in the Y chromosome virtually remains the same in each generation, meaning, the DNA will match even after many generations.

Y Chromosome

Only a male carries and passes the Y Chromosome. Almost every human has 46 chromosomes (23 pairs). 44 of these chromosomes are Nuclear DNA, non-sex chromosomes. The other 2 are sex chromosomes, the female has X, X (2 X chromosomes), and the male has and X, Y.

For genealogy purposes, Y chromosome testing has become extremely significant to the study. This can be interpreted as the surname DNA test; if you match with others, this proves a relation. Your Y chromosome can tell

In females, the sex chromosomes are the 2 X chromosomes. Males have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome. The presence of the Y chromosome is decisive for unleashing the developmental program that leads to a baby boy.

http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/S/SexChromosomes.html
Cameras roll as ancient-DNA experts Carsten Pusch and Albert Zink scrutinize a row of coloured peaks on their computer screen. There is a dramatic pause. "My god!" whispers Pusch, the words muffled by his surgical mask. Then the two hug and shake hands, accompanied by the laughter and applause of their Egyptian colleagues. They have every right to be pleased with themselves. After months of painstaking work, they have finally completed their analysis of 3,300-year-old DNA from the mummy of King Tutankhamun.
Ancient DNA: Curse of the Pharaoh's DNA : Nature News

The human Y chromosome has now been sequenced and published in the June 19, 2003 issue of Nature. The article explains the evolution of the Y chromosome at genetic level. It also serves to illustrate the structure of a chromosome in general. The followings is an attempt to summarize the main features in the article.
Y Chromosome

Cameras roll as ancient-DNA experts Carsten Pusch and Albert Zink scrutinize a row of coloured peaks on their computer screen. There is a dramatic pause. "My god!" whispers Pusch, the words muffled by his surgical mask. Then the two hug and shake hands, accompanied by the laughter and applause of their Egyptian colleagues. They have every right to be pleased with themselves. After months of painstaking work, they have finally completed their analysis of 3,300-year-old DNA from the mummy of King Tutankhamun.

The Y chromosome is present in males, who have one X and one Y chromosome, while females have two X chromosomes.
http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/chromosome=Y

The Y chromosome — with the genes to make a man — has been sequenced. Often regarded as a genetic wasteland, the sequence reveals that we may have underestimated its powers. Here, Nature presents the research, as well as news, reviews and analysis. As with all of Nature's genome content, these articles are available free online.
http://www.nature.com/nature/focus/ychromosome/
Most mammals have one pair of sex chromosomes in each cell. Males have one Y-chromosome and one X-chromosome, while females have two X-chromosomes. In mammals, the Y-chromosome contains a gene, SRY, which triggers embryonic development as a male. The Y-chromosomes of humans and other mammals also contain other genes needed for normal sperm production
Y chromosome - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=9552236 Men More Evolved? Y Chromosome Study Stirs Debate Men not so primitive: Study shows macho Y chromosome evolving faster than rest of genetic code By SETH BORENSTEIN The Associated Press WASHINGTON Women may think of men as primitive, but new research indicates that the Y chromosome — the thing that makes a man male — is evolving far faster than the rest of the human genetic code. A new study comparing the Y chromosomes from humans and chimpanzees, our nearest living relatives, show that they are about 30 percent different. That is far greater than the 2 percent difference between the rest of the human genetic code and that of the chimp's, according to a study appearing online Wednesday in the journal Nature. These changes occurred in the last 6 million years or so, relatively recently when it comes to evolution. "The Y chromosome appears to be the most rapidly evolving of the human chromosomes," said study co-author Dr. David Page, director of the prestigious Whitehead Institute in Cambridge and a professor of biology at MIT. "It's an almost ongoing churning of gene reconstruction. It's like a house that's constantly being rebuilt." Before men get too impressed with themselves, lead author Jennifer Hughes offers some words of caution: Just because the Y chromosome, which determines gender, is evolving at a speedy rate it doesn't necessarily mean men themselves are more evolved. Researchers took the most detailed examination of the Y chromosome, which females do not have, of both humans and chimps and found entire sections dramatically different. There were even entire genes on the human Y chromosome that weren't on the chimp, said Hughes, also of the Whitehead Institute. The two-year research took twice as long as expected because of the evolutionary changes found, Hughes said. There is a bit of a proviso to the comparison to other chromosomes. While all human and chimp chromosomes have been mapped, only two chimp chromosomes have been examined in great detail: Y and chromosome 21. Yet, there's still enough known to make the claim that the Y is the speediest evolver, Hughes and Page said. Until recently the Y chromosome was considered the Rodney Dangerfield of genetics, especially because it had fewer genes than other chromosomes. A few years ago some researchers even suggested that the Y chromosome was shrinking so that in 50,000 years it would just disappear — and so would men. "The story is not as cut and dried as many would have liked to predict," Hughes said. "It's kind of fun to say that men are going to die out, but the science is proving — now that we've got data — that that's not true at all." Page agreed. "The Y chromosome has many more tricks up its sleeve than it was given credit for," he said. There are a couple of reasons Page and Hughes cite for Y being such an evolutionary powerhouse. One is that it stands alone and isn't part of a pair like 44 other chromosomes. So when there are mutations there's no matching chromosome to recombine and essentially cover up the change, Hughes said. Because women have two X chromosomes, the X chromosome doesn't have this situation. Another reason has to do with the nature of mating. When female chimps are in heat, they mate frequently and with many partners, so there is an evolutionary pressure on the male to produce the most and best sperm to propagate his genes, Page said. To test this out, Hughes said she hopes to soon examine the Y chromosomes of a rhesus macaque, which is fairly promiscuous, and the marmoset, which is more monogamous than early humans probably were. Outside scientists praised the study. "Wow," said R. Scott Hawley, a genetics researcher at the Stowers Institute in Kansas City. "That result is astounding." "The Y chromosome clearly has the strength and tenacity to fight back," said Hawley, who wasn't part of the research. "I certainly think the Y chromosome has taken a bad rap for a long time with people doing maps showing areas for channel surfing." ——— On the Net: Nature: http://www.nature.com/nature Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Copyright © 2010 ABC News

The Naked Man: A Study of the Male Body

	The Naked Man: A Study of the Male Body
	Morris, Desmond
	New York, New York USA : St. Martin’s Press  © 2009
Book 288 pp	ISBN-13: 9780312385309    ISBN: 0312385307
Synopsis Following on the international success of The Naked Woman, Desmond Morris investigates another intriguing evolutionary success story. The Naked Man is a study of the masculine body from head to toe, examining biological features of the male anatomy in illuminating detail and describing the many ways in which these features have been modified, suppressed, or exaggerated by local customs and changes in social fashions. This is the natural history of man, viewing him as a fascinating specimen of a far-from-rare, but nevertheless endangered species. The Naked Man is written from a zoologist’s perspective and packed full of scientific fact, engaging anecdote and thought provoking conclusions, including a controversial chapter examining male sexuality. It is an altogether intriguing read.

The myth of male power : why men are the disposable sex

	Farrell, Warren
	New York, New York USA : Simon & Schuster, © 1993
Book 446 pp	ISBN 0671793497 : 9780671793494
Synopsis Dr. Warren Farrell has embarked upon an extraordinary mission that concerns us all - to bring the sexes back together. Backed by a stunning array of facts, The Myth of Male Power shatters the singular assumption that most keeps men and women apart - the belief that men have the power. This myth, says Dr. Farrell, hurts everyone - by making women feel oppressed and angry and men feel unloved and unappreciated. It has fueled hate between the sexes at a point in history that would otherwise have the greatest potential for love between the sexes. It has done this by keeping us ignorant of male powerlessness. This courageous book, filled with staggering facts gathered from numerous reliable sources, will empower both sexes to ask the questions we need to begin a genuine dialogue, such as: If men are the powerful sex why are they the suicide sex? (Why are we unaware that our grandfathers are 1350 percent more likely to commit suicide than our grandmothers?) Why did men live one year less than women in 1920 but live seven years less than women in 1990? Why are our dads about as likely to die of prostate cancer as our mothers are of breast cancer while breast cancer receives 660 percent more funding? Why do men make more money but have lower net worths? As the only man ever elected three times to the Board of the National Organization for Women (NOW) in New York City, Dr. Farrell has been listening to both sexes for a quarter of a century and is uniquely able to write in a way that both articulates men's feelings and helps women feel more love for the men in their lives. As a man who has taught in numerous disciplines, he takes us throughout history, across cultures, and into our psyches today. He helps us understand why feminism helped us see that God could be a she but not that the devil could also be a she; why the political parties are keeping women dependent in exchange for votes; why conservatives, liberals, and feminists are all unconsciously undermining genuine equality; and why the government is becoming a substitute husband. The Myth of Male Power will lead the men's movement out of the woods and into relationships. But ultimately, Dr. Farrell contends, we do not need a women's movement or a men's movement. We need a gender transition movement. We need love. But love requires dialogue. And dialogue requires men to speak up - women cannot hear what men do not say. This book focuses on men's perspectives so men can speak up, so there can be dialogue, so there can be love...

Friend of the Court ENEMY of the Family

	Rhodes, Carol
	Delton, Michigan : Caren Publishing, © 1998
Book 252 pgs	ISBN 0-9668161-0-2
1.       Children’s Rights. 2. Child-rearing. 3. Custody and Child Support-Separated Parents. 4. Divorce. 5. Domestic Law, 6. Family. 7. Family/Child C/ Relationships. 8.Father’s Rights. 9. Law. 10. Men-Law. 11. Non-custodial Parent Rights. 12. Political Science & Government. 13. United States – Social Life and Customs – 20thy Century “Ideally, a family should be a little taste of heaven on earth, a place of caring and love, of laughter and safety, a place to find the security one needs to face the harsh, cold realities of life”. – Rhodes “Daily I witnessed the pain, anguish, horror, frustration and anger of families alienated and at war. Daily, fathers would come in begging for rights to visit their children, or even for the information we possessed on where they could find their children....” – Rhodes Thirteen Chapters: Rhodes, a former child support enforcement officer in the State of Michigan, USA discusses her original belief that the Friend of the Court would work in the best interests of children only to discover that the Friend of the Court is actually Enemy of the Family. Rhodes is a parent herself.

Kinsey Institute study finds women want sex more than men, men want to cuddle

By Daily Mail and staff writers

From: Daily Mail

July 11, 2011 11:30PM

IT is said men think about sex every seven seconds. But it seems what they really want is a cuddle.

A survey conducted by the Kinsey Institute, Indiana University, of couples from across the globe has found that hugs and kisses are crucial to a man's happiness, while women are the ones more interested in sex.

More than 1000 couples were surveyed with an even amount from the United States, Brazil, Germany, Japan and Spain.

The couples were together for an average of 25 years and were 40- to 70-year-old men and their female partners, either married or living together for a minimum of one year.

The men and women answered gender-specific questionnaires and were assured that their responses would not be shared with their partner.

The researchers found men who frequently kissed and cuddled their wives and girlfriends were three times as satisfied as those who spent less time snuggling.

Women - commonly assumed to be more tactile - said shows of affection had very little impact on their happiness.

Julia Heiman, director of The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction and lead author of the article said men did report more relationship happiness in later years, whereas for women, their sexual satisfaction increased over time.

Women who had been with their partner for less than 15 years were less likely to report sexual satisfaction, but after 15 years, the percentage went up significantly.

"Possibly, women become more satisfied over time because their expectations change, or life changes with the children grown," Heiman said.

"On the other hand, those who weren't so happy sexually might not be married so long."

The article is here:

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/men-really-want-cuddles-survey-finds/story-fn7bfu22-1226092706751

The study is here:

http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/publications/PDF/Heiman%20couples%20midlife%20and%20older%205%20countries.pdf

and here:

http://westmichigandad.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/heiman-couples-midlife-and-older-5-countries.pdf

False Accusations: Guilty Until Proven Innocent

Greene, Nik
Florida, USA : AEG Strategic Book Group f/k/a Eloquent Books © 2011

Book 154 pp ISBN-13: 9781609760564 ISBN: 1609760565
Synopsis
Moving the family from the UK to France was intended to bring a new and better life, and to give two newly adopted and troubled children a fresh start.
One Monday morning, everything changed; the whole family would fall apart in the instant it took for one little girl to lie.
The female detention judge looked at the author and spat the words, "You Monsieur Greene, are a paedophile and a pervert, and I have the authority to put you in prison for 20 years. I am going to make it my mission to do so."
"In a country where it is presumed 'children don't lie,' it took three years to fight the archaic, biased French system and clear my name by law, but clearing my name with the French people was another matter." In this true story, the author tells how sometimes "good intentions" are not always enough.
"We have managed through our own strengths and that of our true friends to put it behind us, but I still, to this day, have nightmares of the time I spent in a jail more akin to Victorian England."
He wrote this book to show how False Accusations affect not only the accuser and the accused, but everyone in between.
About the Author: Nik Greene grew up on a farm in Norfolk, England. He moved his family to Limoges, France in 2004, and today lives between Pompadour, France, and Kent, England. He is now studying criminal psychology, and is working on a series of books about a private detective named Jack Thompson.

Does feminism discriminate against men? : a debate

Farrell, Warren
New York, New York USA : Oxford University Press, © 2008
Svoboda, Steven
Sterba, James P.
Books 258 pp ISBN 9780195312829 0195312821 9780195312836 019531283X
Synopsis
Part 1 : Does feminism discriminate against men? / Warren Farrell --
Do we need men's studies? History is men's studies, right? --
Do men have the power? --
What the all-male draft and the combat exclusion of women tell us about men, women, and feminism --
Why do men die sooner and whose health is being neglected? --
Domestic violence : who is doing the battering, and what's the solution? --
The politics and psychology of rape, sex, and love --
Does the criminal justice system discriminate against men? --
Why men earn more : discrimination? choices? --
Are women doing two jobs while men do one? --
Marriage, divorce, and child custody --
Does popular culture discriminate against men? --
Are schools biased against girls? Or boys? --
Part 2 : Does feminism discriminate against men? / James P. Sterba --
The future of feminism and men --
Do we need men's studies--or is history men's studies? --
Do men have the power--and if so, would they want to change? --
What the all-male draft and the combat exclusion of women tell us about men, women, and feminism --
Why do men die sooner, and whose health is being neglected? --
Domestic violence : who is doing the battering, and what's the solution? --
Rape, date rape : how should we respond? --
Is the criminal justice system sexist? --
Why men earn more : discrimination? choices? --
Are women doing two jobs while men do one? --
Marriage, divorce, and child custody --
Do popular culture and the media discriminate against men? --
Are schools biased against women? or men? --
The future of feminism and men.

Divorce poison : how to protect your family from bad-mouthing and brainwashing

Warshak, Richard A. Ph.D.
New York, New York USA : Harper, © 2010


Book 315 pp ISBN 9780061863264 0061863262
Synopsis
This work gives parents powerful strategies to preserve and rebuild loving relationships with their children and provides legal and mental health professionals with practical advice to help their clients and ensure the welfare of children. Offers advice on how to: recognize early warning signs of trouble; react if your children refuse to see you; respond to rude and hateful behavior; avoid the seven common errors made by rejected parents--P. [4] of cover.
Introduction: Stealing the soul --
The delicate balance --
Bad-mouthing, bashing, and brainwashing --
Alienated children --
Malignant motives --
The alienating environment --
The corruption of reality --
Poison control --
Getting professional help --
Letting go --
Afterword: Restoring lost identities and lost relationships

Divorce Busting

Weiner-Davis, Michele (approx. 1951 - )
New York : Fireside (Simon & Schuster Inc.), © 1993
Designed by Carla Weise 1

Book 252 pp ISBN 0-671-72598-x ISBN 0-671-79725-5 Pbk.
Ten chapters within three parts with introduction, bibliography, recommended reading and index. Weiner-Davis, one of the formulators of Solution-Oriented Brief Therapy, presents thoughts on focused conversations and actions, changing the dynamics of a relationship by changing ones’ self, finding relationship success and avoiding relationship pitfalls. The book designed as a possible intervention in a dissolving marital relationship may also offer some thoughts on managing the dynamics of relationships that evolve beyond marriage.

Conflict behavior & linkage politics

Wilkenfeld, Jonathan
New York, New York USA : D. McKay Co., © 1973


Book 328 pp ISBN 649928
Summary
A theoretical perspective on linkages: Coser, L. A. Conflict with out-groups and group structure. Rosenau, J. N. Theorizing across systems: linkage politics revisited.--Foreign conflict behavior linkages: Rummel, R. J. Dimensions of conflict behavior within and between nations. Wilkenfeld, J. Domestic and foreign conflict. Phillips, W. R. The conflict environment of nations: a study of conflict inputs to nations in 1963. Hazlewood, L. A. Externalizing systemic stress: international conflict as adaptive behavior. Haas, M. Societal development and international conflict. Van Atta, R. H. Field theory and national-international linkages. Collins, J. N. Foreign conflict behavior and domestic disorder in Africa. Burrowes, R. and Spector, B. The strength and direction of relationships between domestic and external conflict and cooperation: Syria, 1961-67.--Domestic conflict behavior linkages: Wilkenfeld, J. and Zinnes, D. A. A linkage model of domestic conflict behavior.--Bibliography (p. 359-379)

Come On People: On the Path from Victims to Victors

Cosby, Bill (1937 -)
Nashville, Tennessee USA : Nelson, Thomas, Inc, © 2009
Introduction by: Poussaint, Alvin F.

Book 288 pp ISBN-13: 9781595551863 ISBN: 1595551867
Synopsis
When you have people who tell you, "You can't get up, you're a victim," that's when you know that it's the devil you're hearing, no one else.
Bill Cosby [Dr. William Henry Cosby Ph.D.] and Alvin F. Poussaint have a powerful message for families and communities as they lay out their visions for strengthening America or, for that matter, the world. They address the crises of people who are stuck because of feelings of low self-esteem, abandonment, anger, fearfulness, sadness, and feelings of being used, undefended, and unprotected. These issues often impede their ability to move forward. The authors aim to help empower people to make the daunting transition from victims to victors. Come On, People is always engaging and is loaded with heart-piercing stories of the problems facing many communities.

Castaway Kid: One Man's Search for Hope and Home

Mitchell, R.B. (YOB/YOD)
Carol Stream, Illinois, USA: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., © 2007


Book 272 pp ISBN-13: 9781589974340 ISBN: 1589974344

Synopsis
Rob Mitchell is one of the last "lifers" raised in an American orphanage. Left by a dysfunctional family in an Illinois children's home, he grew up with kids who were not friends but rather "co-survivors." After becoming a Christian as a teenager, Rob found what he was looking for, home and family, in a relationship with God. Rob was able to overcome his past, forgiving his relatives and forging healthy family relationships of his own.
Mitchell is a respected financial consultant and a dedicated youth advocate, but what's not well known is that he had a tumultuous childhood. His memoir reveals his life in an orphanage; after his mother abandoned him at age 3, as well as his struggle to find love and acceptance and learn to trust. Mitchell knew his mentally ill mother, who once kidnapped him from the orphanage, but had no real memories of his father, who attempted suicide but ended up brain damaged. His maternal grandmother was the boy's anchor, but she couldn't raise him, which only added to his confusion. – Publishers Weekly

Mitchell’s experiences and reflections, give us reason to pause and reflect, upon what is and what can we do, and whether we should: not simply Mitchell’s quest for who he is that led to God, but interactions with others and their effect. This book will take you away from your meopia and outside of the box.

Castaway Kid on Inner Compass ~ an interview