08 May 2006

Mid-Season Review of "Shalom in the Home"

Now that Rabbi Shmuley Boteach's show "Shalom in the Home" has passed its halfway mark for its first season, I thought it would be appropriate for me to weigh in. My interest in this show is three-fold: 1) as a future family leader, 2) as someone who is interested in family dynamics in general, stemming initially from my senior year in high school, and even giving rise to thinking of becoming a family and marriage counselor whilst in college, and finally, 3) as a future rabbi.
My apprehension, however, before having watched any of the episodes, was that he would be emphasizing his conceptions of gender roles, which he described in an article in the WJD.
However, after watching the first episode (which someone noted the lessons gleamed therefrom), I was still slightly leary, but he hasn't really said much about being a man, etc. I have grown to like it quite a bit and found it enriching. One thing that is particularly interesting, which especially came through in this last episode, was his focus on the parents in order to effect change in the child(ren) (also previously noted by someone else).
A recent lecturer for our pastoral counseling class, Dr. Bruce A. Birnberg (I couldn't find a good link for him, but I did find a paper of his that he co-authored), who is a family medicine person, noted what makes Reb Shmuley interesting is that even though Reb Shmuley is working within a very small time-frame (whereas successful therapy usually involves longer periods of therapy), he utilizes a variety of theories/approaches - about three of them, roughly.
Anyways, it has been interesting and I'm excited for the second half of this first season. Oh yeah, and I think he's making a kiddush hashem (lit. sanctification of the Name, though more colloquially, something that makes Jews look good).
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