Itamar Haritan

ITAMAR HARITAN, then a graduate student at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, received funding in April 2023 to aid research on “Stateless Ancestors: Alternative Genealogical Imaginations in Israeli Society,” supervised by Dr. Jonathan Boyarin. This report surveys a year of ethnographic fieldwork studying the Lubliner Jewish Organization and Family Constellation practitioners in Israel as two alternative approaches to intergenerational relationships. The grantee participated in the Lubliner Jewish Organization’s events throughout the year, including memorials, dinners, and volunteer projects, such as collecting “grandparents’ stories.” The grantee was able to form close relationships with Lubliners, facilitating a deeper understanding of how they see intergenerational relationships, and what role ancestors play in their lives. Simultaneously, the grantee immersed themselves in the Family Constellation community, attending sessions and trainings, learning about the practitioners’ focus on embodied as opposed to intellectual knowledge. The October 7th massacre and the devastating Israeli response transformed Israeli society, which made fieldwork more difficult but also making the centrality of intergenerational relationships in Israeli society more visible. By tracing how public expressions of commemoration and mourning differ from interlocutors’ approaches, the grantee was able to arrive at significant insights about the relationship between nationalism and intergenerational kinship.