Center for Children and Childhood Studies - Research Report: Stuart Charme, Jewish Identity II

Principal Investigator:

Stuart Charm é, PhD, Professor of Religion (Dept. of Philosophy and Religion) at Rutgers University at Camden

This pilot study is partially funded by the Center for Children and Childhood Studies

Dr. Stuart Charme, Professor of Religion and Center Associate, presented the results of his study of Jewish American and Israeli children's interpretations of the creation story at the CCCS Associates Seminar Meeting at Rutgers-Camden. This study is part of Dr. Charme's project on emerging identities in Jewish American and Israeli children and adolescents. This project is supported with funds the Center received from the Rutgers University SROA program.

When Dr. Charme originally asked Israeli and American elementary school children whom they identified with in the story of Adam and Eve, almost all the boys chose Adam. After all, none of them "would want to be a girl." Although most of the girls chose Eve, some actually identified with Adam.

When asked about the part of the creation story dealing with the forbidden fruit, the children reacted differently. The boys generally regarded Adam as being tricked and blamed Eve for his misfortune. While many of these boys still identified with Adam, some chose the snake. The girls tended to see Adam and Eve as equally guilty for the fall. While some still identified with Eve, a large group of girls would have preferred to play the part of God.

Dr. Charme argued that the religious and ethical significance Biblical stories have for children is influenced by which character a child identifies with. Further, gender plays a significant role in the process of identification.

Gender issues manifest themselves in a variety of ways for Jewish children. For example, when Dr. Charme asked 13 year old boys and girls to explain why the area near the Kotel, the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, is divided unequally between a men's side and a woman's side, their responses were to a large extend related to gender. Israeli children, as well as Jewish American boys, tended to to explain the arrangement with justifications such as: "There are more men in Israel", "Men move more when they pray", " Men pray more," and "Men don't like to be as close to others when they pray." The Jewish American girls were more likely to see the arrangement as unfair and suggest various ways to rectify it.

Influences on Jewish American and Israeli children's views and attitudes toward religious Orthodoxy, religious services and intermarriage between Christians and Jews, are not limited to gender. Children's Jewish identities, according to Dr. Charme, require them to negotiate a variety of competing elements--male/female, American/Israeli, secular/religious, Orthodox/non-Orthodox, Jewish/Christian.