How do you measure a Jewish population? By faith? By numbers? By synagogue? The New Haven Independent, a paper discussing the affairs of New Haven, CT, says that, in that area, numbers of Jews are statistically rising. However, the study was “supplemented by contacts with 536 households with Jewish-sounding names.” Is this the right way to measure Jewish people?
I can’t say that I know much about how a census is taken, but, when one measures individuals of a certain ethnicity, I doubt that last names are sounded out, then randomly assumed to be of one group or another. What about Jewish families who don’t have Jewish-sounding last names? What about families with Jewish-sounding last names that aren’t themselves Jewish? This means of identification doesn’t seem rather accurate.
Indeed, what was the purpose of the Jewish “census” in New Haven? The article doesn’t say, but the outcome appears to have encouraged some Jewish educators to try and make Jewish day schools in the area more appealing. As it is, the study states that the median age of participants was 51 years or older. Therefore, the New Haven Jewish community needs to hook into the youth demographic to ensure that it will continue on into future generations.
To be honest, I don’t think the Jewish community in New Haven is in any danger of going anywhere. Jews have a long history of living there. Indeed, my mother’s own family first settled in New Haven generations ago and have been living there—and attending a New Haven synagogue—ever since.
Looking at the numbers, though, which Jewish communities in New Haven are growing? How is that symptomatic of American Jews at large? According to the study, about a quarter of the surveyed houses “belong to a Greater New Haven synagogue. Of that group, 41 percent belong to Conservative synagogues, 32 percent to Reform, 24 percent to Orthodox (and 3 percent to “other”).” It looks like the conservative movement is flourishing the most in New Haven. Does that hold true elsewhere in the country?
A 2001 study showed that, of Jews who belonged to synagogues, “Forty-one percent of them belong to a Reform temple, 41 percent to a Conservative synagogue and 18 percent to Orthodox.” Therefore, the data for New Haven does directly correspond to national data. Comparing the two figures, it seems that most Jews that did belong to synagogues—not counting those who did not, another matter entirely—identified with the more liberal streams of Judaism.
I don’t think Orthodoxy is in any danger of dying out. At the same time, I do think that Orthodox Jews might want to make more of an effort to reach out to other Jews to explain their views and promote inter-Jewish dialogue. I don’t know how many do that regularly, but no harm can come from reform or conservative Jews doing the reverse, either. Only good can come from Jews talking to each other about our shared faith.
