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October 4, 2002/Tishri 28 5763, Vol. 55, No. 6
Beyond expectationsEditorialRumors of the demise of the American Jewish community have been greatly exaggerated.As we await the results of both the National Jewish Population Study 2000 and the local demographic study funded by the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix, another study has revealed that there are 18 percent more American Jews than earlier reported. Gary Tobin, president of the Institute for Jewish Community Research, based in San Francisco, states that according to the latest study, 6.7 million people identify themselves as Jews, compared to 5.5 million reported in the 1990 National Jewish Population Study. In addition, millions of Jews and non-Jews identify themselves with the Jewish community. This study presents the positive flip side of assimilation and intermarriage. Many think these two phenomena at worst represent the death knell of the American Jewish community and at best the rapid distillation of our numbers. Another view is that as a result of our being integrated into almost every aspect of American society, more people are self-identifying as Jews and more are becoming ger toshav - non-Jews who dwell among us - grandparents, husbands, wives, step-children or grandchildren. The results of these demographic studies will raise fundamental questions. The first is "Who is a Jew?" In this way, the debate over whether identity is determined by psychology, ethnicity, religion or Halacha will continue. Another question is how will Jewish institutions use their resources to benefit the Jewish community? In answering, synagogue, federation and other organizational leaders will have to decide where they stand on the "inreach vs. outreach" debate. Inreach focuses on connected Jews, while outreach focuses on those Jews disconnected from recognized Jewish organizations. The Valley represents unique challenges: Jews are scattered in all four directions, gathering in pockets here, nascent neighborhoods there. Our challenge is for the array of Jewish organizations to balance resources, simultaneously attracting Jews unaffiliated with the community while improving the Jewish lives of our community's leaders and members. The results of these demographic studies will provide direction for how our resources should be distributed throughout the Jewish community, or rather, Jewish communities. None of the studies should be discarded, downplayed or overlooked. To do so would truly lead to the detriment of America's Jewish community that appears to be stronger and more vibrant than we originally thought. |
