God-sent ordeals and their discontents: Ultra-orthodox Jewish women negotiate prenatal testing

Ivry, Tsipy; Teman, Elly; Frumkin, Ayala

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.03.007

Cited by 33 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Our previous and current studies of Jewish Ultra-Orthodox [Haredi] women's reproductive lives and encounters with reproductive technologies (Ivry, Teman, and Frumkin 2011;Teman, Ivry, and Bernhardt 2011) resonate with important features of Gammeltoft's findings. They reveal a cosmology similarly oriented toward reproductive duties enacted by members of social groups who are not expected to make decisions on their own.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 55%

“…And how do their experiences illuminate the centrality of choice in anthropological studies of human reproduction? Beginning with the first question, making efforts within the framework of hishtadlut obviously does not exempt women from emotional strife and suffering (Ivry, Teman, and Frumkin 2011). Rather, it emerges as a particular way developed by these women in order to live within this paradox.…”

Section: Discussion: Proactive Fatalism and Moral Reliefmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Elsewhere (Ivry, Teman, and Frumkin 2011;Teman, Ivry, and Bernhardt 2011), we have explored the ways Haredi women manage the uncertainty and fear they associate with prenatal testing, as well as questions of agency and of ''moral pioneering'' in that context. It was through those explorations of the complexities of the women's decisions regarding prenatal testing that we realized the paradoxical tension between choosing and relinquishing reproductive control within the women's narratives, and the emergent centrality of the organizing concept of ''obligatory effort'' in the women's navigations of their reproductive careers as a whole.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Yet even as continuing to be open toward conception throughout their fertile years conveyed a relinquishing of control to God, it could also be viewed as an active effort. Most of the women spoke of having children as their role and purpose [tafkid] in life, their ''mission''[shlichut] from God and their way of worshipping God and of expressing piousness (see Ivry, Teman, and Frumkin 2011;Teman, Ivry, and Bernhardt 2011). Continuing to become pregnant in order to fulfill this purpose following reproductive losses, such as miscarriage or stillbirth, or after challenges such as the birth of a baby with disabilities, was not just about relinquishing control, but about making efforts to carry out their divine purpose.…”

Section: Relinquishing Reproductive Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The point of these stories, discussed elsewhere (Ivry, Teman, and Frumkin 2011;Teman, Ivry, and Bernhardt 2011), was to mark prenatal tests as possibly leading women into a ''test of faith'' [nisayon]. Avoiding them could be seen as a selfprotective measure in the hopes of not being ''chosen'' by God for such an ordeal.…”

Section: Prenatal Testing and The Boundaries Of Hishtadlutmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Obligatory Effort [Hishtadlut] as an Explanatory Model: A Critique of Reproductive Choice and Control

Teman

Ivry

Goren

2016

Cult Med Psychiatry

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Studies on reproductive technologies often examine women's reproductive lives in terms of choice and control. Drawing on 48 accounts of procreative experiences of religiously devout Jewish women in Israel and the US, we examine their attitudes, understandings and experiences of pregnancy, reproductive technologies and prenatal testing. We suggest that the concept of hishtadlut-"obligatory effort"-works as an explanatory model that organizes Haredi women's reproductive careers and their negotiations of reproductive technologies. As an elastic category with negotiable and dynamic boundaries, hishtadlut gives ultra-orthodox Jewish women room for effort without the assumption of control; it allows them to exercise discretion in relation to medical issues without framing their efforts in terms of individual choice. Haredi women hold themselves responsible for making their obligatory effort and not for pregnancy outcomes. We suggest that an alternative paradigm to autonomous choice and control emerges from cosmological orders where reproductive duties constitute "obligatory choices."

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 55%

Section: Discussion: Proactive Fatalism and Moral Reliefmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Relinquishing Reproductive Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Prenatal Testing and The Boundaries Of Hishtadlutmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Obligatory Effort [Hishtadlut] as an Explanatory Model: A Critique of Reproductive Choice and Control

Teman

Ivry

Goren

2016

Cult Med Psychiatry

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Pregnancy

Ivry

Teman

Davis‐Floyd³

et al. 2015

The International Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality

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This entry describes women's experiences of pregnancy across cultures. In every sociocultural—and political—setting, women's pregnancies are managed and regulated in accordance with local, regional, and national knowledge systems and beliefs about women's and men's roles in creating health and illness throughout gestation, childbirth, and the nurturance of future members of society. The entry details the development of the field of the anthropology of reproduction, and the subfields of the anthropology of pregnancy, childbirth, and the new reproductive technologies. It encompasses ethnotheories of conception, kinship, and sexuality, as well as the medicalization of pregnancy/prenatal care and birth, and describes the major discontinuities between earlier traditions and modern practice, pointing to a need for more up‐to‐date ethnographic research focused on pregnancy. The authors sketch the main theoretical concerns and empirical patterns that arise in past and present ethnographic research on pregnancy, and review earlier ethnographic accounts of pregnancy and current studies of technological reproduction through a unified theoretical lens. Our perspective analyzes both current scientific theories of conception and gestation and ethnotheories of procreation in premodern non‐Euro‐American societies as culturally bound systems of discourse and practice.

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Attitudes of Israeli parents of children with Down syndrome toward non‐invasive prenatal screening and the scope of prenatal testing

Nov‐Klaiman

Raz

Hashiloni‐Dolev

2019

Journal of Genetic Counseling

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Due to its early utilization and increasing ability to provide genetic information, non‐invasive prenatal screening (NIPS) has reinforced social and bioethical quandaries concerning prenatal genetics. This paper presents exploratory findings based on 20 semi‐structured interviews conducted in 2017–2019 with Israeli parents of children with Down syndrome (DS), four of whom also serving as representatives of DS organizations. Their views are presented regarding the pros and cons of NIPS; the social context of decision‐making about NIPS; and views on life with DS and termination of pregnancies on that ground. While illustrating the large heterogeneity of views concerning NIPS and prenatal diagnosis (PND) amongst parents of children with DS, our respondents commonly criticized the imbalanced information provided by professionals regarding DS, seen as sending a discriminating message in line with the public ignorance surrounding DS. These views are further discussed in the multi‐cultural, ableist and pro‐natal context of Israeli society. We conclude by offering practical implications concerning NIPS, parental autonomy, and informed choice.

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God-sent ordeals and their discontents: Ultra-orthodox Jewish women negotiate prenatal testing

Cited by 33 publications

References 15 publications

Obligatory Effort [Hishtadlut] as an Explanatory Model: A Critique of Reproductive Choice and Control

Obligatory Effort [Hishtadlut] as an Explanatory Model: A Critique of Reproductive Choice and Control

Pregnancy

Attitudes of Israeli parents of children with Down syndrome toward non‐invasive prenatal screening and the scope of prenatal testing

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