Reflections on the treatment of adolescents in Israel

Adolescence in Israel was reviewed in this Journal fifteen years ago by the late Shmuel Nagler (1), a dedicated and gifted clinician and researcher, who was particularly interested in this age group. It is noteworthy that at the time, by far the largest portion of Nagler's attention was taken up by adolescence in the kibbutz, and therefore also with its ideology and the successes and failures of this movement with regard to its adolescents. Undoubtedly, this exclusive emphasis was colored by the great personal and professional involvement that experts like Nagler had in the kibbutz movement. In itself, however, this emphasis bears testimony to the leading position which the kibbutz movement commanded in Israeli society, finding particular expression in the areas of education and mental health. In addition, however, it also points to the extremely intricate and complex interrelationships between adolescence and the social realities in which it takes place (2). In a somewhat speculative vein, I would like to make the observation that at that point of our historical development, the kibbutz, with its ideology and idealism, expressed the adolescent ego-ideal of Israeli society as a whole. The shift away from the idealizing posture towards a more realistic, though certainly still very special, place accorded the kibbutzim in present day Israeli society is indicative of the tremendous social changes that have taken place in it over the last few decades. I do not believe, however, that I would devote so much exclusive emphasis and attention to kibbutz adolescents, although they continue to hold a prominent and unique position in Israeli society.