Running head: THE TWELVE DOMAINS OF JEWSH RELIGION AND CULTURE
The Twelve Domains of Jewish Religion and Culture
Vanessa Van Steyn
California State University, Stanislaus
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THE TWELVE DOMAINS OF JEWISH RELIGION AND CULTURE
Introduction
Although I have known her all my life, I decided to interview one of my very closest friends Hanna Kanofsky, who was raised Jewish. I decided to call her and ask her to dinner, and asked if I would be able to interview her for a project I was doing for my Transcultural nursing class and she agreed! We met for dinner at Jack’s Restaurant in Pleasant Hill, California, and discussed all aspects of her Jewish heritage including religion, gender roles, language and ceremonies she and her family participate in.
Overview
A person is considered Jewish if their mother is Jewish, or if they have converted into the
Jewish religion. Therefore, the Jewish population is very diverse, both educationally and ethnically, as a whole. Many of the world’s Jewish population lives in Israel, which is known as the promised land, although Jewish people can be found world-wide after fleeing Europe during the Holocaust.
Communication
Historically, Jewish culture has included many languages including Yiddish, Ladino,
Aramaic, and Biblical Hebrew (My Jewish Learning, 2002). Many modern Jewish families read
Hebrew out of the Torah, and learn to speak Hebrew during religious celebrations. Hanna said that right before she turned 13, she began attending religious classes in preparation for her Bat
Mitzvah, which is a celebration of coming of age for Jewish teenagers. During her Bat Mitzvah she was required to read Hebrew out of the Torah, and participate in prayers and songs of worship also in Hebrew, which took many hours of practice. Outside of religious gatherings,
Hanna’s family speaks English, and reserves Hebrew mostly for prayer and worship. When it comes to names, Hanna was unsure about the formatting of names in her culture, but mentioned

THE TWELVE DOMAINS OF JEWISH RELIGION AND CULTURE that traditionally it is very different than how her family or church tends to name their new members. According to Jewfaq.org the naming of a Jewish child takes place at his circumcision or at the synagogue for her, and the Hebrew name will usually take the format child’s name bat/ben father’s name (Rich, 2012).
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Family Roles & Organization
Hanna explained Jewish gender roles to be very similar to any other gender roles, with her father being the main provider, and her mother staying home to take care of her and her sister. Their main family goal is having a very close family that is also close to god. Children are expected to behave, and help out around the house; just as any other children are required to.
Jewish children are also expected to go through a Bat or Bar Mitzvah at 13 years old, which is a coming of age ceremony for them and allows them to be considered adults in the eyes of their church and families. Hanna told me that many children are very excited about their Bat Mitzvah, because they are able to earn extraordinary amounts of money that can be used for college later on.
Workforce issues
Although Hanna hasn’t experienced many problems in the workplace due to her culture, she explained that she could see how many problems could arise due to diet, especially as many
Jewish people follow a kosher diet which is often very strict and doesn’t leave much room for error. Those who eat kosher must abide by these rules, along with many others, which may not be available at a common workplace cafeteria. Hanna told me that her family also abides by
Shabbat, explained in the Torah as God saying on the seventh day his people should rest, so on
Shabbat her family cannot work, which could cause friction in some work places. Also, she has heard from family and friends about stories of people experiencing anti-Semitism in the

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THE TWELVE DOMAINS OF JEWISH RELIGION AND CULTURE workplace, which could obviously cause conflict between coworkers and leave Jewish coworkers feeling unsafe while at work. In fact, in 2011 in Britain there was a new of incidence of hate towards Jewish citizens, so much so that author Tony Kushner labeled it Judeophobia (Kushner,
2013).
Biocultural ecology
When discussing Judaism with Hanna, she explained to me that being Jewish is both a religion and a culture. Hanna’s family has ancestors who were born and raised in Israel, and because of this she considers herself, culturally and religiously Jewish. However the skin color and looks of Jewish people, according to Hanna, can range all over the spectrum. She has some friends that look classically Middle Eastern, but also has Jewish friends who are pale skinned with light hair and freckles. She was unsure about health problems, besides the normal health conditions plaguing all citizens of the United States, that specifically affect Jewish people but spoke about how many of her Jewish friends and family eat very healthy and exercise very often, living to be very old without major complications. According to Judaism.about.com, there are a few genetic disorders that typically affect Jewish people more than other citizens, including
Bloom Syndrome, Gaucher Disease, Niemann-Pick Disease type A, Crohn’s Disease, and rarely
Thalassemia (About.com, 2013).
High Risk Behaviors
Hanna was unaware of any high risk behaviors specific to Jewish culture besides the fasting typically taking place during Yom Kippur. She believes Jewish people are healthy, happy, and unwilling to put themselves at risk in order to live long happy lives with their families.
Nutrition

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THE TWELVE DOMAINS OF JEWISH RELIGION AND CULTURE
Discussed above, some Jewish families follow a kosher diet, which calls for strict practices regarding meat handling, preparation and selection. In order to eat kosher, you can only eat certain types of meat including those with hooves and that chew its cud. You also cannot mix meat and dairy on the same plate, in the same meal, or even use the same utensils to cook nonkosher and kosher foods. Although kosher diets are very strict, they still provide Jewish families with all the nutrients needed for a balanced and healthy lifestyle and will not lead to deficiencies as long as dairy is provided away from the protein (Rich, 2012).
Hanna’s family is not kosher, however they follow a vegetarian diet, therefore bypassing many of the areas brought to attention in the Torah. According to Hanna, food is very important to
Jewish families and often religious ceremonies are centered on sharing food with your family and friends. She offered an example; in September many Jewish families celebrate Rosh
Hashanah, which is their celebration of the Jewish New Year. It is often a time that they will share many sweet foods with each other in order to guarantee a sweet new year. Another example is Yom Kippur, which is a full day fast, in which many Jewish families will not eat or drink anything from sunset the day before Yom Kippur to sunset on Yom Kippur. Certain people, including the sick, elderly, young, and pregnant are not allowed to fast in order to maintain their health (Rich, 2012).
Pregnancy & Childbearing Practices
Pregnancy is highly celebrated in Jewish culture, however traditionally most women will try to wait to celebrate the baby’s arrival until after its birth due to superstition surrounding miscarriages and still births (Rich, 2012).
Hanna said that more Orthodox Jewish families will wait to name their children until the father brings the baby girl to the synagogue or the son gets circumcised, and they also usually

THE TWELVE DOMAINS OF JEWISH RELIGION AND CULTURE will assign godmothers and fathers to the children to help guide the children down a religious
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Death
Although death is usually makes her sad, Hanna explains that death is Jewish culture is just seen as a part of life. Jewish people believe in an afterlife where if you were good on earth, you will be rewarded for eternity, the same can be said for those who were evil during life and will be punished throughout eternity. Traditionally, autopsies are not preformed (unless necessary), nor are cremations and the body is not viewed at the service (Rich, 2012).
Spirituality
Judaism is their dominant belief and it is the belief that there is one god, and that prayer in Jewish culture should be directed solely to God. There are also 13 principals of faith that the
Jewish religion follows, that in their most basic forms say: the good shall be rewarded, the bad shall be punished, God is watching, and the dead will be resurrected (Rich, 2012).
Hanna said that as with many other religions there are all different ways to worship. For some Orthodox Jewish people, they may believe the only way to properly worship God is to attend multiple services daily at the synagogue where others, such as Hanna’s family, worship more privately. Hanna’s family and friends take turns hosting what they call a Chaverah, which is basically time for family and friends to get together, share meals, worship and discuss the
Torah. Hanna told me that the Chaverah was something she looked forward to every week as a child, and something she would love to continue for future generations to come.

THE TWELVE DOMAINS OF JEWISH RELIGION AND CULTURE
Health-care Practices
Hanna says that she has never really heard of any health rated issues in her faith, except
7 when it came to the use of pork related transplants for Jewish patients, which are not considered kosher. Generally, the Synagogue believes that no restrictions should be placed on people who need medical help in order to help save their lives, and they have no issues with transplantation, blood transfusions or other surgical procedures. She also stated that lately there has been more controversy related to circumcision on the Jewish baby boys, but she is unsure as to whether or not the synagogue will begin allowing medication to decrease pain during the procedure.
Health-care Practitioners
Although both doctors and nurses are regarded highly in Jewish culture, there are a few special Jewish practitioners that help perform ceremonies under word of the Torah. One example that Hanna gave me was the Mohel who is a Jewish surgeon that is educated in circumcision and also highly educated in Jewish teachings. The Mohel performs the Brit Milah, or circumcision, of every Jewish baby boy.
Nursing Interventions
If I were to be taking care of a Jewish patient in the hospital there would be a couple easy things I believe I would be able to do in order to make their stay more enjoyable. I would try to be culturally aware of my patients needs and competent when dealing with my Jewish patient in order to make my patient feel comfortable and not judged (Douglas et. al, 2011). First, I would make sure to ask whether the patient was following a kosher diet. If so, I would try to make sure
I understood what was necessary of our kitchen staff, if the food was to be prepared there. If able to, I would allow the family to prepare food for the patient at home to bring into the hospital.

THE TWELVE DOMAINS OF JEWISH RELIGION AND CULTURE
If helping a patient during Yom Kippur, I would make sure to get in contact with the patient’s Rabbi to make sure the patient feels comfortable eating and drinking during his/her stay. Although the Torah makes exceptions for the sick, having a Rabbi discuss the matter with the patient may put them more at ease in their decision, and ease some stress.
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Lastly, if working in post-partum with a Jewish mother and her newborn son, I will understand her desire to circumcise her son and I will encourage her to explore her options with her Mohel regarding pain control during the procedure. I will work hard to show no judgment whether or not she accepts my advice, and understand that culturally she is doing what she believes to be best for her newborn son.
Discussion
I think the hardest part about asking my friend Hanna about her culture and religion, was trying not to come off insensitive or ignorant. For example, although many Jewish people refer to themselves as “Jews”, I didn’t know whether it was acceptable to refer to the culture this way as well, so I just refrained from using that term for fear of being offensive. It was also difficult not to just compare her culture and religion directly to mine, and instead look at her culture separately, and see all the positives and negatives associated with it. Besides watching what I said, and worrying about offending my friend, there were no communication barriers between her and I. This could possibly be due to the fact that we have known each other for a very long time.
I did learn that although I felt as though I knew my friend very well, I really had no idea about her cultural or spiritual background. I thought it was very interesting to note that in the many years we have known each other we have never really had that in-depth a discussion about

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THE TWELVE DOMAINS OF JEWISH RELIGION AND CULTURE religion or culture, which seems like it should have come up a time or two. It was very interesting to learn a whole new side to a person I felt I knew inside and out.
Conclusion
The Jewish culture and religion is one-of-a-kind due to its ability to be incredibly accepting and diverse. A culture filled with prayer, food, and many celebrations, Judaism is focused on family and friends coming together to celebrate one God. Although many traditional
Jewish celebrations may not mesh well with the traditional mainstream culture or even traditional medicine, culturally competent nurses will have no problem creating a positive healing environment for Jewish patients.

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THE TWELVE DOMAINS OF JEWISH RELIGION AND CULTURE
References
About.com. (2013). About Judaism . Retrieved from: http://judaism.about.com/od/health/Health_Jewish_Diseases.htm
Douglas, M.K., Pierce J.U.,Rosenkoetter,M., Pacquiao,D., Clark Callister, L., Hattar-Pollara, M.,
Lauderdale, J., Milstead, J., Nardi, D., and Purnell, L. (2011). Standards of Practice for
Culturally Competent Nursing Care : 2011 Update. Journal of Transcultural Nursing
22:317 (2011): 317-333.
Kushner, T. (2013). Anti-Semitism in Britain: continuity and the absence of a resurgence?
Ethnic and Racial Studies . 36:3 (2013): 434-449
My Jewish Learning. (2002).
Judaism & Jewish Life - My Jewish Learning . Retrieved from: http://www.myjewishlearning.com/culture/2/Languages.shtml
Rich, T.R. (2012). Judaism 101 . Retrieved from: http://www.jewfaq.org