Cultural Immersion Project

Cultural Immersion Project

Liberty University

August 30, 2013

1. What are some key things you’ve learned about this culture through reading the scholarly literature? [about 300 words

Answer: some of the key things I have learned through reading scholarly literature of the Jewish elderly population are aging and life satisfaction, the difference between religiosity and traditionalism (religious people and traditional people), the importance of prayer as therapy and rituals at end of life.

I learned that Jews can be classified as those who practice religion, could be any type of religion and those who are traditional observers, those who cling to practicing the different types of Jewish rituals and ceremonies. From my reading, many studies have been done to understand the relevance of life satisfaction between these two groups whose members live in Jewish senior care centers. In most studies elderly with some sort of religious affiliation or practice tend to be more satisfied with their life than the traditional observers. The religious also have more social favor and respect from their peers in senior care centers than the traditional observers. I also learned that the opinions of those who are religious elderly are more credible than the traditional observers. Hence, the majority of the elderly Jewish population are religious. As a result of this belief, prayers in the Jewish nursing homes are very common practice. In fact some studies show that prayers are used as therapy. The elderly population tends to have been satisfied with their life’s accomplishments relative to their social status in the senior homes and frequency of their prayer exercises. Some of the prayers conducted during funerals are also very interesting. There prayers for the living family members, for the deceased, and for mourning friends and other guests. Rituals include, no food, drink or music near body of deceased person. Body of deceased is to be washed, dressed and put in a room...