http://www.jewishledger.com/2013/11/doom-and-gloom-or-rich-opportunity/
Now that the dust has settled a bit on the Pew Research Center’s “A Portrait of Jewish Americans,” it’s time to see how Jewish Connecticut is responding.
Conducted between February and June, this is the most comprehensive national survey of the Jewish population since the 2000-2001 National Jewish Population Survey conducted by United Jewish Communities (now Jewish Federations of North America). More than 70,000 screening interviews were conducted to identify Jewish respondents in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Longer interviews were completed with 3,475 Jews, including 2,786 Jews by religion and 689 Jews of no religion. While many communities are taking steps to incorporate the findings of the Pew study into their programming, not everyone accepts the findings as gospel, so to speak. In short, the study has its detractors.
While respondents overwhelmingly reported that they are proud to be Jewish and have a strong sense of belonging to the Jewish people, the survey also suggests that Jewish identity is changing in America, where one in five Jews (22 percent) now describe themselves as having no religion.
The survey explored identity, intermarriage, religious beliefs and practices, attitudes toward Israel and the Holocaust, and social and political views. The entire report is available at pewforum.org.
The Ledger asked representatives of Connecticut’s Jewish communities to weigh in on how the findings impact upon their respective constituencies and future plans. Several responded.
