Numerous studies have identified religious correlates of health indicators, but relatively few have been conducted among Jewish populations in Israel or the diaspora. This study investigates the possibility of a religious gradient in physical and mental health and well-being across the familiar categories of Jewish religious identity and observance in Israel: hiloni (secular), masorti lo dati (traditional, non-religious), masorti (traditional), dati (religious or Orthodox), and charedi (ultra-Orthodox). Data are from Jewish respondents aged 18 and over (N = 2916) from the Israeli sample of the new, 22-nation Global Flourishing Study, which used stratified, probability-based sampling and assessed demographic, socioeconomic, political, religious, health-related, and other variables. This analysis investigated religious differences in nine indicators of physical and mental health and well-being among Israeli Jews. Using a strategy of one-way ANOVA and ANCOVA, adjusting for complex sampling design components, a statistically significant \"dose-response\"-like gradient was found for eight of the outcome measures, validated by additional multiple comparison tests. For four \"positively\" worded indicators (physical and mental health, happiness, and life satisfaction), scores increased consistently from the hiloni to the charedi categories. For four of five \"negatively\" worded indicators (bodily pain, depression, anxiety, and suffering), scores decreased across the same categories. Results withstood adjusting for effects of age, sex, education, marital status, urbanicity, income, and nativity (whether born in Israel). Among Israeli Jews, greater religiousness was associated with higher levels of health and well-being and lower levels of somatic and psychological distress.

In Israel, as in other countries, the emotional and physical needs of minority populations receiving palliative care, are largely unknown. The ultra-Orthodox Jewish sector is one such minority population. This study\'s goal was to identify perceived social support, desire to receive information about illness and prognosis, and willingness to disclose information to others. Various measures assessing perception of social support, psychological symptoms and information disclosure were completed. Fifty-one women consented to participate; approximately 50% of participants had disclosed the diagnosis to their rabbi or a friend, in addition to their spouse. Almost all of the participants would want to be told if their condition were worsening (86.3%), yet only 17.6% reported that their doctor had discussed future care options if their health situation were to worsen. Overall, participants felt that the level of support they received was high and reported low levels of mental distress. This is the first known study regarding perceptions and needs of ultra-Orthodox Jewish women with advanced-stage cancer. Both diagnosis disclosure and palliative care options should be addressed and discussed with these patients so they may make important end-of-life decisions.

This exploratory study examines the likely causes of the alarming global rise of antisemitism during the COVID-19 pandemic. Beginning with an appraisal of today\'s world Jewry, this exploratory study highlights the main social, health, and religious impacts COVID-19 has had on Jews worldwide and goes on to highlight how various Jewish communities managed and adjusted to COVID-19 public health restrictions. From this contextual backdrop, an assessment of how and why antisemitism has surged during the pandemic is presented, along with a review of what efforts are being taken to curtail this rise in hatred toward Jews. A central aim of this study is to underline the point that until meaningful, broad, and international steps are taken to curb online hate, the historic antisemitic tropes and myths suggesting Jews are the cause of disease will undoubtedly evolve and surge (especially across social media) during future pandemics and times of global crisis and unrest.

Introduction: Spiritual interventions (SI) are used by patients and their families as a means to promote health. The family continuum (FC), which includes finding a partner/spouse, getting married, becoming pregnant, and having a safe pregnancy/birth, is an important concept for the Jewish culture as well as other cultures that have a traditional family-centered approach. There is a dearth of professional literature pertaining to SI to promote the FC. Although patients may use SI, this information is not routinely collected in a health history. The purpose of the study was to describe the experience of Jewish women\'s use of SI to promote the FC. Methods: This ethnographic study included interviews of Jewish women pertaining to FC, a text review, and field study. Coding of the text, site visits, and interviews were performed and reviewed to identify categories and themes and were refined until saturation was achieved. Results: Fifty-three observant and non-observant Jewish women participated in the study. Women expressed that SI were the means for them playing an active role in fulfilling the FC, and included intermediaries to God, self-improvement, and folk/spiritual remedies. The examples of SI included: visits to holy sites and spiritual leaders for blessings and advice, prayers, psalms, doing good deeds, eating special foods, wearing amulets, and performing certain SI with predesignated repetitions. Women attributed these SI to attaining an FC. Women who achieved each FC milestone without difficulty tended to use less SI, whereas women\'s SI usage increased the longer a milestone was not achieved. Conclusions: Jewish women are using many SI to promote the FC. Health care should be delivered in a culturally competent manner, which includes the incorporation of safe cultural practices. Obtaining a cultural assessment as part of the medical history could assist the health care professional in integrating safe SI into patient care.

The purpose of this research is to conduct a comparative analysis of the Messiah in Semitic religious discourse, focusing on Muslims\' specially the Sunni school of thought. The notion of Mahdism is generally recognized in all three major sematic faiths. Muslims scholars, particularly Shiites, believe in Mahdi and see him as the cornerstone of their faith, to the point where Shiites theology is difficult to fathom without it. We argued in this article that the Shiites\' concept of Mahdism is derived from both Jewish theological literature, which is based on the concept of a savior who will arrive at the end of time, and Christian theology, which considers Jesus as a Redeemer who came for the salvation of Humanity after grave sin. Sunnis, who constitute the majority of Muslims, hold a different view of Messiah. The objective of this study was to establish the actual Sunni Muslim position on the issue of Mahdism and salvation, as obtained from authentic sources of Islam.

Historical clinical reports and media narratives suggest that Orthodox Jews are reticent to seek treatment for mental illness, present only with serious concerns, and hesitate to comply with treatment in general and psychopharmacology in particular. On the other hand, recent developments, and some limited research, suggest that Orthodox Jews may be likely to seek and comply with treatment. The current study compared the diagnostic, symptomatic, and treatment characteristics of 191 Orthodox Jews and 154 control patients all presenting to a large private mental health clinic with offices throughout greater New York. Results indicated that the groups were largely demographically similar, and that their diagnoses did not significantly differ. Orthodox Jews initially presented with lower levels of symptoms, terminated with similar symptom levels, attended a similar number of sessions, and were equally likely to use psychopharmacological interventions of similar types, compared to controls. This was equally true of ultra-Orthodox and modern Orthodox Jews. Clinicians providing mental health services to Orthodox Jews should be aware of these findings, which contrast with existing clinical and popular stereotypes. Further, excessive efforts to protect Orthodox Jewish patients against stigma may be unnecessary and counterproductive.

Burn injuries are a significant cause of morbidity among children. Ultra-Orthodox Jewish children are at higher risk for burn injuries. The goal of this study was to examine the clinical characteristics of moderate to severe burns in this population in comparison to the general population in Israel. This retrospective cohort study included all pediatric patients 0 to 18 years of age admitted with burn injuries from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2018. Data were collected regarding demography, etiology, and clinical characteristics. Of 778 burns injuries presented to our tertiary center, 385 (49.5%) were hospitalized. Of those 212 (55%) were non-ultra-Orthodox Jews, 135 (35%) were ultra-Orthodox Jews, and 38 (10%) were non-Jewish patients. The total body surface area percentage (TBSA%) of scald-type burns was larger in ultra-Orthodox compared to non-ultra-Orthodox children (median TBSA% of 7% vs 5%, respectively, P < .05). Among the ultra-Orthodox group, the median TBSA% during weekdays was 6%, and for weekends, the TBSA% was 7.5% (P < .05). Females demonstrated the greatest diversity between subgroups. On weekends, ultra-Orthodox female\'s median TBSA% was 10%, and non-ultra-Orthodox female\'s TBSA% was 4.5% (P < .05). Ultra-Orthodox children and especially girls had a significantly higher median TBSA% than non-ultra-Orthodox children for burns occurring during weekends. This may be the result of the unique cultural norms of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, in particular, their lifestyle and observation of the Sabbath. These findings provide a focus for better intervention and prevention of pediatric burns among this unique population.

Promoting a healthy lifestyle and achieving strict adherence to medical treatment among patients with diabetes are key objectives in public health. Yet health behaviors are often culturally driven, especially in closed religious communities. This study seeks to reveal key cultural-religious factors, attitudes and behaviors characterizing the lifestyle in one such closed community-the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community-by understanding the attitudes of ultra-Orthodox patients with diabetes toward coping with their illness and the factors impacting their adherence to medicinal treatment.
Qualitative interviews were conducted with 16 ultra-Orthodox patients with diabetes using a semi-structured, in-depth questionnaire.
Three main themes emerged: 1) \"The disease as a secret\": Hiding the disease among patients with diabetes in ultra-Orthodox society; 2) \"Distinguishing between sacred and secular occasions\": ultra-Orthodox diabetes patients distinguish between treatment adherence on weekdays and treatment adherence on holidays or special occasions; 3) \"Ask the rabbi\": In cases of dilemmas that involved conflicts between halakhic rulings and doctors\' instructions, the rabbi\'s decision was usually the final one.
The findings of this study may help provide an in-depth understanding of the obstacles and motives of ultra-Orthodox patients in adhering to medicinal treatment of diabetes in particular and to medicinal treatment in general, thus helping family physicians who treat this population provide optimal and appropriate treatment.

According to Jewish law/ethics, continuous life-sustaining therapy may not be withdrawn after its introduction, unless the patient has improved and no longer has a medical indication for the treatment. We report the case of an 88-year-old Orthodox Jewish patient, on invasive mechanical ventilation, with severe anoxic brain injury after multiple cardiac arrests. Although the patient\'s son informed the palliative care team that his father did not want to be in pain or to linger in a vegetative state when terminally ill, the mechanical ventilation was keeping him alive with a poor neurological prognosis. Additionally, the patient had previously stated his wish to observe Orthodox Jewish principles regarding end-of-life care. After extensive discussion, the family Rabbi clarified that it would be acceptable to withdraw mechanical ventilation if there were a \"reasonable expectation\" he would breathe on his own for a \"reasonable amount of time.\" Thus, if the patient\'s death were to occur, it would not be an immediate consequence the normal ventilator weaning process. Following intermediation by the hospital Rabbi, the definition of what would be a \"reasonable expectation\" and \"reasonable amount of time\" was established by the family Rabbi as \"over 50%\" and \"on the order of hours,\" respectively. Following pulmonary consultation, the patient underwent palliative extubation and, 12 hours after the procedure, died comfortably surrounded by the family. In conclusion, the collaborative and interdisciplinary work among the family Rabbi, hospital Rabbi, and the various medical teams allowed the development of a plan that met all of the patient\'s personal and religious wishes and beliefs.

Religious coping is prevalent among individuals diagnosed with psychotic disorders, however its clinical relevance has been insufficiently studied. Thirty ultra-Orthodox Jewish patients experiencing current psychotic symptoms and receiving treatment in the inpatient and day-care units were administered measures assessing severity of psychotic symptoms, psychological distress/well-being, beliefs about treatment credibility/expectancy, and aspects of religious belief and coping. Among men, negative religious coping was associated with lower treatment credibility. Among women, positive religious coping was associated with increased treatment expectancy and greater quality of life; and trust in God was associated with reduced psychiatric symptoms and greater treatment expectancy. Study findings indicate that religious factors may promote treatment motivation and engagement, crucial factors for subpopulations facing culturally-based barriers to treatment, as well as boost more favorable outcomes. Sensitivity to religious factors in treatment appears to play an important role in the management of psychotic disorders and should be engaged when culturally appropriate in order to maximize treatment potential.