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Survey reveals dichotomy in American Jews' identity
DEBRA N. COHEN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
NEW YORK - American Jews' connection with the religious part of their identity is solid, but their sense of connection to the ethnic aspect of Jewishness - their sense of peoplehood - is rapidly declining. That is the central finding of a Jewish Community Centers Association study released this week.
It may seem axiomatic, but another major finding of the study is that those who are active in one Jewish organization are likely to be involved in others as well - that any engagement in Jewish life spurs more.
The study, conducted by sociologist Steven Cohen for the JCCA, was the first one underwritten by the association that focused on broad communal concerns rather than internal JCC issues. It is part of the JCCA's effort to become a key player in Jewish education and scholarship at a time when many Jewish organizations across the spectrum of American Jewish life are clamoring to make an impact on issues considered central to Jewish continuity.
Cohen, who has been retained as a senior consultant by the JCCA, said more studies will be forthcoming on these wide-ranging issues. He analyzed the findings of a mailed questionnaire that was completed in the summer of 1997 by 1,005 Jewish adults between the ages of 25 and 65 who were randomly selected by the Washington research firm Market Facts.
Cohen found that the youngest respondents are as religiously oriented as the oldest. More than half of those surveyed scored high on measures of ritual observance, as did about one-third of respondents when it came to feelings of religious commitment and faith in God. Marked declines among younger Jewish adults became obvious when they were asked about the strength of their ethnic ties, such as attachment to Israel and whether most of their close friends are Jewish.
Community leaders who believe that more resources should be invested in Jewish education should find encouragement from the study. The findings also show, Cohen said, that "identity can be formed by intensive Jewish education" in any form.
Among the JCCA's findings:
Nearly half of respondents between 55 and 65 feel a significant sense of attachment to Israel, but less than a third of those 35 to 54 do.
About 60 percent of those in the oldest age group said that most of their friends are Jewish, but just a third of those 35 to 44 said the same.
To Cohen, the overall findings point to some clear policy directions for North America's approximately 275 Jewish community centers and affiliated organizations.
"They all need to give explicit attention to community building rather than seeing it as fortuitous byproduct of good Jewish education," said Cohen, who works as a professor at Hebrew University, in Jerusalem.
Staff writer Julia Goldman contributed to this report.
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