ABSTRACT
The role of the father in the family and in child development has been widely studied in recent years and we have substantially advanced our understanding of various aspects of fatherhood. We will not attempt to elaborate these advances here; the reader is referred to major reviews (e.g., Lamb, 1981) as well as to the introductory chapter of this volume. Our purpose is rather to examine fatherhood in a specific cultural context, detailing some aspects of fathering in Israel which may contribute to the understanding of fatherhood processes as a universal phenomenon.
