Communication

In the early 1920’s a group of Israeli doctors and psychologists began a prolonged project of social guidance for parents. The Jewish towns and villages in mandate Palestine were not heavily populated, but their inhabitants were fully aware of what they saw as their historical role in creating a ‘new native Jew’.
The young Israeli was supposed to have not only attractive external features but also qualities such as honesty, courage, and patriotism.
Doctors used varies methods in their efforts to contribute to raising children with these characteristics. Here we will discuss the written parents’ manuals published in Hebrew beginning in the 1920’s.
The doctors’ advice reflects an ideological core that regards motherhood and “proper” child rearing as key factors in the struggle
for a ‘new society’ and a ‘new Jew’. The manuals describe in great detail the proper mother, and who is a proper child, with using the ongoing theme of “A Sound Mind in a Sound Body".
Birth was the obvious way to produce these proper children. But births had to be controlled and regulated, supervised and carefully balanced.
Eugenics, Social Darwinism, selective abortion restrictions, and breast-milk bank are few of the themes that were found very appealing in the Israeli context. Besides explicit appeals to bear and raise only healthy and privileged children, there was enormous emphasis on day-to-day childcare. The desirable baby, the “Sabra”, was essential for the Israeli nation-building process.

The Mass Immigration to Israel in the 1950’s included over one million immigrants from Europe, Asia and Africa which Immigrated to Israel in a relatively short time. These people, who came from the death–camps in Europe, and from refuges camps in the Middle East were suffering from countless diseases.
The newborn Israeli state  located the new comers in deserted houses, tent camps, and other temporal accommodation. An organizational effort to “heal the immigrants” was made using thousands of qualified and un- qualified medical staff.
In this paper, the doctors’ and nurses’ cultural assumptions toward the immigrants will be discussed, Based on dept Interviews with Israeli nurses and Doctors who worked with immigrants through the 50’s.
Although both immigrants and Medical staff were Jewish, there were cultural, ideological and political differences between them. The immigrants were seen by the medical stuff as a reservoir of diseases, poor hygienic habits and Ignorance, and considered themselves progressive, modern and rational. Countless descriptions of the immigrants’ bad habits were published in the newspapers of the time. The immigrants’ children were often described as skinny and dirty, and as a possible threat to the health of the non- immigrants.
The medical staff didn’t only taught the immigrants new hygiene habits but also tried to change all their previous ways of life: they showed the immigrants how to raise their children, how to sweep and wash the floor and how to deal with laundry, how and what to cook and so on. The stereotypes were accomplished by typical rhetoric that praised the cultural differences, and saw them as colorful components to the boiling Melting Pot.

The Israeli nation building process, which took place at the beginning of the last century, aimed to re-create the Jewish nation by relocating it in the promised land in one hand, and by  establishing a new native Jew, on the other. This ideological theme was shared by national leaders and doctors as well, demanded of mothers to have a lot of children and to raise them according to specific rules and orders. Their ultimate end was to raise a new generation-"sound mind in a sound Body".
Doctors and national leaders praised birth and its national benefits, and glorified motherhood. But they were quiet worried because of the low birth rates in the urban and educated strata, and from the high birth rates of the poor and uneducated- both Jewish Immigrants and poor Arab residence of the country. The doctors wrote in Israeli women magazines of the 30's and 40s about an anti-reproduction social sentiment and about the fear from bearing children.
This social phenomenon was accompanied by vast usage of abortions. Abortions were illegal in the British Mandate period, unless for health reasons. “The medical reasons, as you all know, are highly subjective” wrote one of the doctors, Dr. Josef Meier, when he turned to his collages to try to stop the abortions. Another doctor wrote that Israeli women see abortions as a regular event, easier then extracting a tooth.
Using content analysis, articles from the Israeli women magazines  will be discussed in order to conceptualize the significance of abortions in the Israeli nation building Process.
The Abortion discourse will be discussed in yet another two periods. We will show that in this unique set of political and social circumstances, religious arguments from one side and feminist arguments from the other, made surprisingly little significance comparing their essential position in the contemporary abortion debate in Israel.

How  did the Zionist baby, the “sabra”, grew-up? Was it a spontaneous cultural process or the outcome of ideological wishes and efforts?                                                                                         
This study arises two crucial questions: 1. What was the Zionist’s ideological point of view concerning family, motherhood and childhood?
2. How was  this ideology  transmitted  to parents? 
The social history  of the Israeli Family was seldom discussed, and the  history of Israeli motherhood frequently neglected. One of the major explanations to this phenomenon is the notion that the Zionist ideology disregarded these issues on the whole, so the family had no real significance in this point of view.  Another point  is methodological problems, mainly the lack of  biographies and other possible sources concerning every day’s  life. 
To  Partly resolve these problems , this study suggests an anthropological analysis of data that was never before analyzed in Israeli context. These are parent’s manuals - Hebrew                       
written (or translated) books concerning the rearing of children, which  were published throughout the last seven decades . The ideological writings of main Zionist figures, as well as articles that were published in the main-stream socialist press (“Dvar Hapoalat”, “Orim Lahorim”, etc.)  were inspected in order to re-construct the Zionist views  in these matters.                                                         

The findings reflect a steady  ideological core that regard motherhood and proper child-rearing as key-factors in the struggle for a new society and new Jew. The manuals describe in great detail who is a proper mother, and who is a proper child, using the ongoing theme “A Sound Mind is a Sound Body". Some more contextual ideas satellite this main theme: ”the demographic crises”    ”eugenics” ,”rational motherhood” and  “national education at home”. Altogether these themes consist a detailed picture of the desirable Zionist baby.

The article deals with the social mechanisms of medical treatment, and health education that were in use during the mass immigration of the 1950s.The aim of the medical practices, that were connected to reproduction (birth, contraceptives, abortion and breastfeeding) was to aculturate the immigrants. Althogh the declared aim of the absorption process was to eleminate the differences between immigrants and veterns, the reproductive practices served to preserve the differences. The study is based on 35 depth interviews with Israeli nurses and doctors who worked with immigrants during the 1950s and on vast archival research.

Even in rare instances where the voice of immigrants has been heard in academic research, the voice of women immigrants has been largely missing. This is one reason why the discussion about Mass Immigration to Israel during 1950s has been carried out primarily on the popular level and the nature and the tone of discourse has been left in the hands of political and ethnic activists. Using the theoretical framework Standpoint Theory, the work at hand seeks to rectify this deficiency in the research literature – the absence of immigrants in general and women in particular, and women’s perspectives vis-à-vis health absorption issues during mass immigration to Israel between the years 1949-1956.  The study is based on 25 in-depth interviews with women who immigrated to Israel in the 1950s.
Using body and gender categories, the various manners in which new immigrant women were absorbed in the health realm have been elucidated. Through body analysis, the paths by which these women either embodied or resisted the imagery of immigrants, immigration and absorption and health and sickness, were derived.

Dr. Miriam Aharonova is one of the forgotten founders of the Israeli Health system, and one of the few female doctors that made there way to the top of it.  Born in White Russia in 1889, she learned medicine in St. Petersburg, and was trained as a Gynecologist. Since 1921 she was the head of the Bryansk maternity hospital. In 1929 she left it all behind, and immigrated to Palestine, then ruled by British forces. After few months in Ein-Harod, She moved to Tel-Aviv and established (and then headed) the first consulting station for women in Palestine.
Through her life Aharonova dealt with spreading what she saw as the right ideas about hygiene and public health. She frequently wrote in medical newspapers, both professional and popular, and even published a revolutionary book, dedicated to women health in Hebrew. One of her main interests was mothers’ guidance, especially in the pre- marriage state.
Her articles reveal a fascinating mixture of ideas: European medical ideas from St. Petersburg aside Zionist views, Eugenics aside with Socialism, women rights aside with believe in male superiority. Her concepts about birth (at least three for each Jewish woman) and abortions, emasculation and self restraint, and proper personal as well as national hygiene restrictions shed a light on the medical concepts that accompanied the Israeli nation building process.

This article examines the structures of leisure activities and leisure benefits of individuals who have recently retired. It also explores the contribution of leisure activities and benefits to a higher life satisfaction at this phase of life. The study is based on in-person quantitative interviews with 383 retirees in an Israeli national sample survey. Results indicate that there are 13 factors of leisure activities, and 5 factors of leisure benefits; which are intricately interrelated. Six of the activity factors significantly contribute to retirees’ life satisfaction (High Culture and ‘Dolce-Vita’, Free Out of Home Activities, Spirituality and Enrichment, Popular Culture, Following Generation, and Independent Home Activities). The only leisure benefit that indicates a significant influence on life satisfaction is Essentiality. The results of this study support and clarify the Activity Theory (Havighurst, 1963), and enhance the understanding of the role of leisure in achieving a high level of life satisfaction, which is equivalent to a successful adaptation to retirement.

This article examines patterns of continuity and change in leisure behavior of recently retired individuals. The study investigated post retirement leisure behavior in an Israeli national sample. It explored the differences among four defined groups: reducers, concentrators, diffusers and expanders, and measured their leisure participation and life satisfaction. Results indicated that the expanders and the concentrators enjoyed a significantly higher life satisfaction. The findings support activity theory and continuity theory. They also led to the conclusion that for people who had a limited leisure repertoire prior to retirement, experiencing new activities was just as important as continuity to the adaptation process towards retirement.

This paper examines the patterns and meanings of innovation in the activities of a group of retirees with an eye toward understanding the place and value of innovation in the aging process. Starting with a consideration of continuity theory, as a perspective that simply describes typical patterns of activity, and activity theory that prescribes expansion of activities as a key to well-being, this paper highlights the characteristics, meanings and perceived benefits of a wide variety of innovative activities. The study utilized in-depth semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 20 male and female retirees involved in a “Learning and Retirement” program. Innovations that both preserve a sense of self (internal continuity) as well as those that allow one to strike out in entirely new direction are described, and, using a process of constant comparison, their motivational dynamics are explored. Given previous arguments that activity can be indiscriminate and disintegrative in some circumstances, we nevertheless suggest that innovation can be growth producing and liberating, even in later life, while at the same time generally protecting a sense of internal continuity.

This article examines the leisure behaviour, attitudes and life satisfaction of a sample of 383 retirees aged 50 or more years in an Israeli national survey. Multivariate analyses identified four leisure-styles on the basis of the type of leisure activity engaged in, its relative sophistication, whether it was a formally-organised cultural activity, and its location (at home or outdoors). The four styles were: ‘company seekers’, ‘media consumers’, ‘culture enthusiasts’ and ‘sophisticated choosers’. The levels of participation in the four styles associated with nine background characteristics: gender, education, income, former occupation, work status, retirement pattern, origin, residential area and health. Differences in life satisfaction associated with leisure participation and leisure satisfaction. Two of the groups, the ‘culture enthusiasts’ and the ‘sophisticated choosers’, were relatively active and enjoyed significantly higher levels of satisfaction with both their leisure and their lives. These findings tend to support Havighurst’s ‘activity theory’. Since these two leisure styles were minority groups, and most of the sample pursued the other leisure styles, the findings imply that a large proportion of the retired population are inadequately prepared to take up ‘active leisure’. If more older people are to become engaged in active leisure, with benefits to both themselves and to society, they require more guidance and support.

Purpose of the study: To examine the contents and characteristics of seniors’ online communities and to explore their potential benefits to older adults. Design and Methods: Quantitative content analysis of a full year's data from 14 leading online communities, using a novel computerized system. The overall database included 686,283 messages. Results: There was a constant increase in the daily activity level during the research period. Content analysis identified 13 main subjects discussed in the communities, including (in descending order) ‘Fun on line’, ‘Retirement’, ‘Family’, ‘Health’, ‘Work and Study’, ‘Recreation’, ‘Finance’, ‘Religion and Spirituality’, ‘Technology’, ‘Aging’, ‘Civic and Social’, ‘Shopping’, and ‘Travels’. The overall tone was somewhat more positive than negative. Implications: The findings suggest that the utilities of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) for older adults that were identified in previous research are valid for seniors’ online communities as well. However, the findings suggest several other possible benefits, which may be available only to online communities. The communities may provide social support, contribute to self-preservation, and serve as an opportunity for self-discovery and growth. Since they offer both leisure activity and an expanded social network, it is suggested that active participation in the communities may contribute to the well being of older adults. Directions for future research and applied implications are further discussed.

Relatively little evidence is available about how leisure involvement changes with spousal loss, and even less about how leisure activity is associated with the well-being of widows during this transition. Using data from the Americans Changing Lives (ACL) dataset, this study compared 148 widows with an equal number of continuously married women to investigate change in leisure involvement during the transition to widowhood and examine the relationship between leisure and depressive symptoms among the older women. Findings indicated that widows benefited from increased involvement in some activities while this was not necessarily the case for married women. This suggests that change in widows’ leisure involvement may be related more to bereavement than to other aging-related changes such as health and disability.

A central theme in the recently suggested 'Innovation Theory' (Nimrod and Kleiber, 2007), which discusses the triggers, the types and the benefits of innovation at later life, is that adding brand-new leisure activities after retiring from work may enhance post retirement well-being. The study described in this article aimed to examine this suggestion using quantitative data, in a sample of 378 recently retired individuals. The study explored the frequency of post-retirement innovation in leisure repertoire, the association between innovation and retirees' life satisfaction, and what explains differences in life satisfaction between innovators and non-innovators. Results indicated that the inclination toward innovation was significantly associated with respondents' work and retirement history, as well as with their self-rated health and origin. Innovators had significantly higher life satisfaction than non-innovators, but this difference could not be explained by the number of new activities. In addition, the socio-demographic characteristics failed to explain innovators' well-being. While some support for innovation theory was provided, further research is required to explore the dynamics in which innovation at an old age contributes to retirees' well-being.

This article examines central themes in traveling retirees' perceptions of tourism and travel. It aims to understand the place and value of tourism in retirement. The study described in this article focused on relatively recent retirees, and utilized in-depth semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 20 male and female retirees involved in a “Learning in Retirement” program in a mid-sized southeastern U.S. city. Results identified five themes, associating post retirement tourism not only with the new life phase, but also with lifelong interests, leisure activities, retirees' social networks and perceived constraints. These findings are discussed in light of general theories of adaptation and aging.

The purpose of the present study was to examine continuity and change in post retirement leisure, and the relationship of such patterns to subjective well-being (SWB), in two national contexts. National data sets from the U.S. (N=430) and Israel (N=383) were used to examine changes in leisure participation and their impact on SWB. Results indicated that in the U.S. there was a general inclination toward continuity, while in Israel there were significant increases in rates and frequency of participation. In Israel some changes in activity were associated with life satisfaction, while in the US no such association was found. These differences are discussed in light of the higher pre retirement participation in leisure activities in the United States and the possibility that adjustment to retirement may be easier in more leisure-oriented societies.

The purpose of this paper is to consider adaptive processes in relation to the constraints that limit leisure in late life. Interview data gathered from a purposive sample of 20 male and female retirees involved in a “Learning in Retirement” program were used to identify constraints, responses to constraints, and the personal meanings of both. Results indicated a variety of emotional and behavioral responses to constraints suggesting five prominent behavioral themes and three emotional themes. Behavioral responses were grouped into: (1) reducing and eliminating; (2) persistence with commitment; (3) constraint as "project"; (4) substitution; and (5) exploration and self-discovery. Emotional reactions ranged from the initial frustration to acceptance and even gratitude for the possibilities that remain. Findings are discussed in terms of the models of constraint negotiation and selective optimization reported in the literature; but they also indicate that constraints may lead to responses that are not only personally beneficial but are also novel and transformative to some extent.

There is relatively little evidence available about how leisure involvement changes with the death of a spouse and even less about how leisure activity is associated with the health and well-being of widows during this transition. Using data from the Americans Changing Lives (ACL) dataset, this study of 154 widows investigated change in leisure involvement during the transition to widowhood and examined the relationship between leisure activity reduction and widows’ well-being. Results indicated a majority of widows reduced their involvement in leisure activity. Path models revealed that depressive symptoms and recovery from spousal loss were predictors of activity reduction, providing more support for the causal relationship of well-being influencing activity involvement than for activity influencing well-being.