Good News for Most American Jewish Families

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Jewish population on the rise
Friday, February 9, 2007
SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- America is home to almost 20 percent more Jews than previously estimated, according to a new study by Brandeis University.

There are 6 million to 6.4 million American Jews, rather than the 5.2 million counted by the 2000-01 National Jewish Population Survey. Children, young adults and non-Orthodox Jews came in at higher percentages in the study, done by the Massachusetts university's Steinhardt Social Research Institute.

"American Judaism is expanding," said Len Saxe, director of the institute. "The texture may be different, but it's not a melting ice cube, as some have said. Larger numbers identify with their Judaism than had been thought."

Still another million Americans were raised in Jewish homes, mostly where one parent was Jewish, "and could be considered Jewish," the study said.

Most of the new numbers are non-Orthodox Jews, so that the Orthodox are a smaller percentage of the total: 6 percent to 8 percent, versus the usual guess of 8 percent to 10 percent. The result points up the growth of less-traditional Judaism, Saxe said.

The Brandeis study reanalyzed the earlier study and data from almost three dozen government and foundation studies, and included answers to questions on ethnic, cultural and religious identity.

Among the errors of the earlier study was the use of after-hours phone surveys, the Brandeis study said. Orthodox families were home more often than non-Orthodox young people, who are "highly mobile and rely on cellular phones," the study concluded.

The Brandeis numbers got a nod from the University of Miami's Ira Sheskin, a national figure in Jewish demographics. A study he co-authored, announced in the American Jewish Year Book in December, added up local community figures to 6 million to 6.4 million American Jews.

"I'm amazed that the two of us used different methods and got the basic same answer," he said.