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2010 Survey of Reform and Conservative Congregations
The 2010 Survey of Reform and Conservative Congregations, a Synagogue 3000 Synagogues Study Institute study, uses data that was collected, organized and analyzed by Dr. Steven M. Cohen. It begins by noting that, "U.S. Jewish congregational life is showing signs of stagnation, with few young adults...[and] many older members..." It further notes that The economic recession of 2008 and its aftermath had a major negative impact on Jewish religious congregations and their members.
Belonging Without Believing: Jews and their Distinctive Patterns
Belonging Without Believing: Jews and their Distinctive Patterns (PDF) by Dr. Steven M. Cohen and Lauren Blitzer uses data from Jewish respondents in the 2007 Pew U.S. Religious Landscape Survey to examine issues of Jewish affiliation and belief.
Jewish Distinctiveness In America A Statistical Portrait
Jewish Distinctiveness In America: A Statistical Portrait, 2005 (PDF). Tom W. Smith. Report commissioned by the Research Department of the American Jewish Committee. The report looks across multiple studies and compares Jews to other ethnic groups in the United States. The study finds that Jews place high importance on seeking knowledge and individual freedom and choice. Also, Jews tend to be more liberal than others, have a more urban orientation, are more skeptical about the military, and tend to take a more non-punitive approach to child-raising.
Connections & Journeys
Connections and Journeys sample was drawn from the service area of UJA-Federation of New York. By implication, however, the results are of significance for all American-born Jews. "The purpose of the Connections and Journeys study is to provide insight into two aspects of American-Jewish identity. First the study explores people's current connections to Judaism. What does being Jewish mean to them? In what ways, if at all, do they identify as Jews? How do they relate to their Jewishness? Second, the Connections and Journeys study examines people's journeys - - how people's Jewish identities change and develop throughout the life course....To what extent, if at all, are people's relationships to being Jewish inscribed during childhood and how malleable are these ties later on in life?"
American Jewish Identity Survey (AJIS) 2000-01
The American Jewish Identity Survey was originally published in 2001 with the research conducted by Egon Mayer, Barry A. Kosmin and Ariela Keysar. The study was reissued in 2003 by the Center for Cultural Judaism.
Jewish Identity in Canada and the United States, 1990-1991
Jewish Identity in Canada and The United States: 1990-1991 (PDF) was written by Barry A. Kosmin, and published in 1994. It provides a comparison of the Jewish populations of Canada and the the United States using the 1990 NJPS and the Canadian Government Census of 1991. It concludes that the societal processes affecting Jews in both nations are similar and the gap is not as wide as some might have predicted.
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Intermarriage and Jewish Journeys in the United States
Intermarriage and Jewish Journeys in the United States (PDF), is a report of a study by Arnold Dashefsky, Director of the Data Bank, in collaboration with Zachary Heller, Associate Director of the National Center for Jewish Policy Studies at Hebrew College. This is an in-depth study of intermarried couples in four diverse metropolitan areas: Boston, St. Louis, Atlanta, and the Bay areas of San Francisco. Utilizing both quantitative and qualitative methods, it seeks to probe the nature of the couples' relationship to Judaism and the Jewish community, by interviewing both Jewish and Christian partners.
Family Research Series #1: Intermarriage, Divorce, and Remarriage Among American Jews 1982-87, 1989
Intermarriage, Divorce, and Remarriage Among American Jews 1982-87, was written by Barry A. Kosmin, Nava Lerer and Egon Mayer as a Family Research Series paper in August, 1989. The authors examined marital histories of 6,457 ever married, never widowed, Jewish adults from nine cities around the United States. They tried to determine the extent of intermarriage, divorce, and intermarriage upon remarriage, as well as their possible causal relationship with seven social-demographic factors.
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2007 Survey of American Jews
The 2007 Survey of American Jews was conducted by Steven M. Cohen and Ari Y. Kelman. The main report, Beyond Distancing: Young Adult American Jews and Their Alienation From Israel analyzes data from non-Orthodox Jewish respondents to a combined mail and web-based survey. The report summarizes the Cohen-Kelman argument that younger American Jews are less connected to Israel than older American Jews - with the clear conclusion that increasing distance from Israel has begun to move towards alienation. The Cohen-Kelman report created considerable controversy, considerable reaction, and multiple responses which either supported their thesis, criticized it, or which noted that the data cited by critics and supporters was essentially the same data - interpreted differently. Multiple responses to this study as well as the full data set are available.
Attitudes of American Jews Towards Israel
Attitudes of American Jews Towards Israel (PDF), is a slide-presentation by Dr. Ira Sheskin which examines attitudes across more than 50 local Jewish community studies completed since 1993 as well as the 2000-01 NJPS.
Jewish Demography and Our Relationship with Israel: Fundraising In Today's Culture, 2008
Jewish Demography and Our Relationship with Israel (PDF), is a slide-presentation by Dr. Ira Sheskin which was intended to familiarize participants with the types of data available from Jewish demographic studies that have implications for fundraising for Israel.
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The 2009 Survey of Jewish Communal Professionals
The 2009 Survey of Jewish Communal Professionals was conducted by Steven M. Cohen. The survey was commissioned by The Jewish Communal Service Association of North America (JCSA) and conducted by the Berman Jewish Policy Archive @ NYU Wagner. The survey polled self-defined incumbents of the profession and explored several key issues: who are the professionals who work for Jewish communal organizations today; what are their views, concerns and experiences these days; and how have they fared in the midst of the recent economic downturn?
The 2000 American Rabbi Study
The American Rabbi Study was conducted by Professor Paul A. Djupe in the fall and winter of 2000 in the four major movements of American Judaism-Conservative, Orthodox, Reconstructionist, and Reform. The survey's focus on political orientations and political activities of rabbis included a series of questions about the 2000 US presidential election when Senator Joseph Lieberman (an observant Jew) was the Democratic Vice-Presidential nominee.
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Welcoming Synagogues Project: Preliminary Results from the 2009 Synagogue Survey on Diversity and LGBT Inclusion
Welcoming Synagogues Project: Preliminary Results from the 2009 Synagogue Survey on Diversity and LGBT Inclusion (PDF) by Drs. Caryn Aviv, Steven M. Cohen and Judith Veinstein explores the level of inclusiveness that American synagogues have for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Jews. The study was sponsored by The Institute for Judaism and Sexual Orientation at Hebrew Union College-JIR (IJSO) and Jewish Mosaic: The National Center for Sexual & Gender Diversity. This slide presentation summarizes preliminary findings from the study which were presented at conferences at the JCC in Manhattan (February 23, 2009) and March 2, 2009 at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles. Also see a related report, Gays, Lesbians, and the Conservative Movement.
Gays, Lesbians, and the Conservative Movement
Gays, Lesbians, and the Conservative Movement: The JTS Survey of Conservative Clergy, Students, Professionals and Lay Leaders was a research study conducted by Steven M. Cohen, Research Professor of Jewish Social Policy, HUC-JIR and Director of the Florence G. Heller / JCCA Research Center. In light of the December 6, 2006 Commission on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS) announcement regarding gays and lesbians serving as clergy and related matters, this study attempted to ascertain the views of Conservative leaders.
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Recent Trends in Jewish Demographics and Their Impact on the Jewish Media, 2011
Recent Trends in Jewish Demographics and Their Impact on the Jewish Media is a slide set created by Dr. Ira Sheskin for a session of the American Jewish Press Association (AJPA) June 27-28 meeting in Dallas. This session examines recent trends in the American Jewish community and their impact on the Jewish media. Part I, relying on both the National Jewish Population Survey and local Jewish community studies, addresses some major trends in the American Jewish community, including the changing size of the Jewish community, its geographic redistribution, changes in levels of Jewish connectivity over time, and the impact of Israelis and Russians on the U.S. Jewish community. Some of the economic and political implications of these major trends are explored. Part II provides a demographic profile of the readers of Jewish newspapers and of Jewish websites. Who is and who is not reading Jewish newspapers and visiting websites for Jewish-related information? This latter analysis relies upon a new data set (Decade 2000) that contains 19,000 20-minutes interviews with Jewish households in 19 American Jewish communities.
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The Impact of Geographic Mobility on the Jewish Community 2009
The Impact of Geographic Mobility on the Jewish Community 2009 by Sid Groeneman and Tom W. Smith of the The National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago (NORC), presents the results of secondary analyses of three sources of data on the American Jewish community. The analyses were designed to understand the impact of the mobility of Jewish persons and Jewish households on the fabric of Jewish life.
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Jewish American Voting Behavior: Just the Facts 1972 - 2008 (The Solomon Project)
Jewish American Voting Behavior from the Solomon Project is authored by Mark Mellman, Dr. Aaron Strauss, and Dr. Kenneth Wald. This study provides an extensive analysis of exit poll data on the Jewish community’s voting pattern. While there are claims that Jewish voters are turning increasingly Republican, the study found that Jewish voters are, in-fact, still solidly Democratic.
The Jewish Vote 2012 (Ira Sheskin)
The Jewish Vote by Dr. Ira Sheskin uses the 2000-2001 National Jewish Population Survey and more than 55 of the local Jewish community studies stored at the North American Jewish Data Bank to examine Jewish voting patterns.
2012 Jewish Values Survey
The 2012 Jewish Values Study by Dr. Robert P. Jones and Daniel Cox (Public Religion Research Institute) was designed to take "... a broad look at how Jewish values, experiences and identity are shaping political beliefs and behavior and influencing social action in the Jewish community and beyond." The main report as well as additional supplemental materials are included here. The data file will be available approximately 2 years from public release of the report (April, 2014).
ADL 2011 Poll on Anti-Semitism
The ADL 2011 Poll on Anti-Semitism compares current American views towards Jews and levels of anti-Semitism with previous studies sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League. The press release notes that "The ADL survey ... found that 15 percent of Americans – nearly 35 million adults – hold deeply anti-Semitic views, an increase of 3 percent from a similar poll conducted in 2009, and matching the levels of anti-Semitic propensities recorded in the U.S. in 2005 and 2007...."
BJPA Poll of Jewish Leaders: Egyptian Uprising, 2011
The Berman Jewish Policy Archive at NYU Wagner released the results of an overnight poll of American Jewish leaders focused on the 2011 Egyptian Uprising. Results of this poll show that American Jews are of two minds about recent developments. On the one hand, they warmly greet the apparent turn to democracy and human rights. At the same time, they are unsure of the implications for Israel and the Jewish State's long-standing peace treaty with Egypt.
The 2008 National Survey on Spirituality and Politics
The 2008 National Survey on Spirituality and Politics was sponsored by the Berman Jewish Policy Archive at NYU Wagner and includes two reports issued in October 2008 prior to the US presidential election. (1) Israel Off Their Minds: The Diminished Place of Israel in the Political Thinking of Young Jews argues that younger non-Orthodox Jewish American were going to be much less concerned about Israeli-related issues in the 2008 Presidential election (and by implication, state and local elections) than their older counterparts. (2) The 2008 Presidential Election: As Democratic and Liberal as Ever, by Dr. Steven M. Cohen, Dr. Sam Abrams and Dr. Judith Veinstein, addresses the long-standing identification of American Jews with the Democratic party and the liberal camp in American politics. The authors assess whether this is still the case, focusing on the following month's 2008 Presidential election between Barack Obama and John McCain. For an analysis of support for Obama, please see this Gallup Poll 2009 report.
Jewish Population Survey of Congressional Districts: 2000 and 2006
Jewish Population Survey of Congressional Districts: 2000 and 2006 by Dr. David Paul, reviews data estimates of the Jewish population for each congressional district for 2000 and 2006 Congresses. The study record includes a main report with a summary of findings for 2000 and 2006 as well as a basic introduction to the analytical process used. There are also six supplemental spreadsheets of data available for download. .
American Jewish Committee Polls
The Data Bank currently archives results and/or data files from the American Jewish Committee's annual survey of American Jewish Public Opinion including:
1995,
1998,
2000,
2001,
2002,
2003,
2004,
2005,
2006,
2007,
2008,
2009,
Spring 2010,
and
2011. Additional surveys commissioned by the American Jewish Committee on specific topics (such as Holocaust issues) can be accessed via the AJC Archives
Note that Joel Perlmann of the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College presents a working paper entitled "
The American Jewish Committee's Annual Opinion Surveys: An Assessment of Sample Quality." (July 2007).
Readers can access this working paper directly from the Levy Center site.
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Materials Used in Community Studies
Please note that the Data Bank has added a new section for recent reports documenting survey publicity materials used in Jewish population studies, for marketing and publicity purposes before and during the interviewing period.
We have added these materials for the Chicago 2010, Baltimore 2010 and New Haven 2010.
AJS Conference Presentations - 2009
We have archived and posted two presentations from the 2009 Association for Jewish Studies conference in a Data Bank-sponsored session titled "Measuring Identity and Religiosity Among American Jews: Demographic and Sociological Implications from National and Local Community Studies." The slide presentations have been posted by the authors and the Data Bank in order to allow researchers who could not attend the conference to see the materials. The presentations should be viewed as works in progress. We anticipate that the authors may revise the presentations in the near future, perhaps for journal publication.
Measuring And Assessing the American Jewish Population
Measuring And Assessing the American Jewish Population (PDF) by Dr. Ira Sheskin addresses issues of relevance to the American Jewish Committee as of June, 2008, including the demographics and religiosity of American Jews, attitudes of American Jews toward Israel, anti-Semitism, and politics.
Data Bank News Fall 2000: Summary of Papers from 1999 Conference
Data Bank News Fall 2000 (PDF), summarizes a conference organized by the Data Bank to review the state of knowledge and consider future directions for research. Several leading social scientists of contemporary Jewry were invited to prepare papers on "what we know and what we need to find out" in their respective areas of special interest in Jewish life. A summary of their presentations is included in this newsletter.
A Handle on the Future: The Potential of the 1990 National Survey for American Jewry
A Handle of the Future- The Potential of the 1990 National Survey for American Jewry (PDF) is a collection of two papers, the first written by Sidney Goldstein on the 1990 NJPS: Why and How, and the second written by Steven Huberman on Jewish Megatrends- Planning for the Twenty-First Century. The first paper strongly suggests the need for a national study in addition to local community studies. The second paper argues for the need to plan for the twenty-first century in terms of creating solutions to promote affiliation, strengthen Jewish education, increase financial resources, expand the leadership base and reach out to those most physically at risk.
Also See:
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AJS Conference Presentations - 2006
In an historic session at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Jewish Studies in San Diego, three principal investigators, Ron Miller, Bruce Phillips, and Ira Sheskin, who collectively are responsible for dozens of Jewish community studies now archived at the Mandell L. Berman Institute - North American Jewish Data Bank, presented the results of their recent work on Western Jewish communities, along with a paper on the overall view of Jews of the Western U.S. by Laurence Kotler-Berkowitz of the United Jewish Communities. The session was organized and chaired by Arnold Dashefsky, Data Bank Director and professor of sociology at the University of Connecticut. The session was entitled "Cities of Silver and Gold: Is Urban Jewish Life in the Western U.S. a Harbinger of the Future of American Jewry?" Papers included the following:
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CAMP WORKS: The Long-Term Impact of Jewish Overnight Camp
CAMP WORKS, published in 2011, was conducted in 2010 by Steven M. Cohen, Ron Miller, Ira M. Sheskin, and Berna Torr. CAMP WORKS provides systematic and quantitative evidence that summers at Jewish camp create adults who are committed to the Jewish community and engaged in Jewish practice. Utilizing the most recent National Jewish Population Survey and 25 local community studies completed between 2000-2008, all archived at the North American Jewish Data Bank, this report offers the fullest picture to date of the impact of Jewish summer camp. The influence of summer camp on the ways in which adult Jews choose to engage with the community and the degree to which they associate with other Jews can be felt long after the last sunset of the summer. The impact is striking, especially when compared to their peers who did not spend their summer months at Jewish camp.
Educators in Jewish Schools Study
The Educators in Jewish Schools Study was conducted in 2006 and 2007 by Drs. Michael Ben-Avie, Jeffrey Kress, Shira Rosenblatt and Leora Issacs. This research study presents the findings of a comprehensive North American random sample study of educators and administrators in Jewish schools. JESNA's key learning goals for EJSS were to discover: Who are the educators that teach in Jewish day and complementary schools; what led them to a career in Jewish education; how do they perceive their current positions; and what factors influence their decisions to remain in the field?
Jewish Community Study Data Relevant to Jewish Education: 2008 Summary
Jewish Community Study Data Relevant to Jewish Education slides were presented by Dr. Ira Sheskin to the Association of Directors of Central Agencies for Jewish Education in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in February 2008. The purpose of this session was to familiarize the directors with the types of data available from Jewish demographic studies that have implications for Jewish education.
Young Jewish Adults in the United States Today
Young Jewish Adults in the United States Today. A Research Report for the American Jewish Committee, 2006 (PDF). Jacob B. Ukeles, Ron Miller, and Pearl Beck of Ukeles Associates, Inc. Report commissioned by the Research Department of the American Jewish Committee, which noted in its summary that: "The 1.46 million American Jews between the ages of 18 and 39 represent the future of the American Jewish community. This study summarizes existing knowledge about Gen X and Gen Y, and analyzes data from the National Jewish Population Study, the annual American Jewish Committee Surveys of American Jewish Opinion, and Ukeles Associates studies of local Jewish communities. Most important, it draws policy implications about how to engage this group in Jewish life on their own terms."
The Blue Star Impact: Evaluating 50 Years of Blue Star's Mission (1997)
The Blue Star Impact by Dr. Ira Sheskin. This report examines the impact that Blue Star Camps has had on former campers and counselors and finds a positive relationship between attendence at the camp and Jewish identity. The report also looks at the general success of former campers in life, levels of Jewishness of current campers, and ways that Blue Star can improve the camp experience for future campers.
Also See:
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