"We have answered their prayer": American Jewish old age homes as guardians of religious tradition. Issue 2 (3rd July 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Friedberg, Edna
• Is Part Of: Journal of religion, spirituality & aging. Volume 29:Issue 2/3(2017)
• Page Start: 147
• Page End: 163
• Publication Date: 2017-07-03
• Subjects: Aging/ageing -- aging and spirituality -- cultural narratives -- retirement -- synagogue; Church work with older people -- Periodicals; Older people -- Religious life -- Periodicals; Older people -- Psychology -- Periodicals; Older people -- Social conditions -- Periodicals; Gerontology -- Periodicals; 261.8
• DOI: 10.1080/15528030.2016.1169567
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1552-8030

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The old age home was the major American Jewish communal response to aged poverty during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The first homes offered a self-conscious projection of their sponsors as socially progressive and compassionate in a new landscape. For a religious community increasingly distanced from formal hierarchies of traditional religious practice, the highly visible performance of good deeds under explicitly Jewish auspices became central to its communal identity. Acting on a combination of compassion and the perceived moral imperative of providing a Jewish environment, the founders and supporters of these homes recast Judaism and Jewish identity through an idealized image of aged piety.