From the Editor’s Desk

Fatherhood has undergone many changes in the last three decades. From all-knowing and powerful figures embodying an image reinforced in religion, law and social norms, contemporary fathers are more egalitarian in their relations with family members. Modifications in fatherhood have resulted from changes originating in the father's transformed identity together with cultural changes in family structure. We are speaking here of a "new fatherhood", of fathers who have take on many more roles in the raising of their children, of fathers who simultaneously manage their careers, of homosexual fathers and of fathers who no longer share living quarters with their children. As these roles often contradict one another, fathers wishing to adopt the new father must forsake traditional patterns of dominance and take a more meaningful role in the nurture and education of their children.

This issue of Kaveret therefore opens with three articles that discuss fatherhood in its philosophical, anthropological and socioeconomic features. Sami Aragon's article compares fatherhood in the animal world with its expression n the human world, while that of Orna Shani discusses cultural ?understandings/interpretations of fatherhood's biological origins. Dahlia Moore then reports on insights gained from research on the new fatherhood. Amichai Silberman offers views of fatherhood as expressed in six works of art. In the next set of articles, we profile fatherhood in several of its versions: fathers who work at home (by Avitar Gideon), homosexual fathers (by Beva Schenkman Lechberg), divorced fathers who raise their children alone (by Riki Finzi-Dotan and the late Orna Cohen), and fathers in action during in national uprisings (by Joseph Ziv Zigdon). We close this section with a discussion of fathers as viewed after their death (by Edna Katznelson). In keeping with the past, we include two poems and a short story.

The articles and literary works appearing in this issue on Fatherhood continue to adhere to the four principles that comprise the Kaveret credo:

1. Consideration of the focal concept (one per issue) from several perspectives: philosophical, psychological, sociological, and artistic (short stories, verse and art).

2. Discussions are to range from the general to the particular, from comprehensive macro-level issues to detailed micro-level issues relating to individuals, their thoughts, feelings, disappointments and aspirations.

3. Contributors can be students, graduates, teaching assistants and lecturers from the Academic Studies Division as well as other institutions.

4. The format is to be concise, focused and aimed at as broad an audience as possible.

Kaveret No, 24, to be published in July 2016, will focus on Ostracism (herem in Hebrew). As usual, the manuscripts and original works submitted must comply with the four Kaveret principles. They are not to exceed 2000 words in length, accompanied by a 30-word abstract, with not more than 6 bibliographical references, listed in full according to author, title, year of publication, city and publisher or journal volume, issue and page number/s. We are also happy to receive responses to earlier issues and articles. All submissions are subject to review. Manuscripts are to be submitted no later than 6 February 2016.

Dr. Rachel Pasternak Editor-in-Chief