Patricia, you raised a point that has fascinated me for a very long time.
As an ex-American living for a long time (28 yrs) in Israel, I can get
pretty schizophrenic at times when dealing with Israeli moms. Not only am
I an ex-American complete with mentality, but I get calls from other
ex-Americans, English, Australians, etc. But then, the bulk of the women
I see are not "Anglo-Saxons" as we are dubbed, but *their families* are
from Morocco, Tunisia, Iraq. Others are children or grandchildren of
Holocaust survivors. I would hesitate even in 1996 to say that there is
such a thing as an Israeli culture, since the roots are still so close to
the surface - that is, the parents of most Israelis were not born in
Israel. Yes, I find myself almost automatically switching gears when
talking with a very religious woman, with a woman who looks as if her
roots are Middle Eastern and not European, and the opposite. Hence the
schizophrenia. I think it's all fascinating and yes, very important to
bear in mind. When I come across an ultra-religious woman, I advise her
as much as I can, and always at the end of the spiel, give her the name
and phone of another very religious woman who counsels women, although I
have no idea what her training background is. I just have the feeling
that on certain matters, she would prefer to deal with someone more like
herself. But then, all of us are like that, at least sometimes, aren't we?
Judy Knopf in Beer Sheva, Israel