Pew Survey Shows Major Change in Jewish Identity

The first major survey of American Jews in more than ten years finds a significant rise in those who are not religious, marry outside the faith and are not raising their children Jewish. When it comes to Israel 48 percent of those polled don’t think Israel is making a sincere attempt to make peace. A quarter of all Jews ages 18-29 believe that U.S. is too supportive of Israel.

The percentage of Jews who identify as Jewish solely by culture or ancestry rather religion has jumped from 7 percent to 22 percent since 2000. So many Jews feel strongly about their identity as Jews but don’t define themselves as “by religion” that Pew started using the academic term “Jews of no religion.” Thirty four percent said you could still be Jewish if you believe that Jesus was the Messiah. The intermarriage rate has reached a high of 58 percent for all Jews and 71 percent for non-Orthodox Jews.

The survey, by the Pew Research Center’s Religion and Public Life Project, found that despite the declines in religious identity and participation, American Jews said they are proud to be Jewish and have “a strong sense of belonging to the Jewish people.”

According to the Washington Post (Oct. 1, 2013), “In most areas, young Jews and older ones were similar. The largest gap between young and old was about caring about Israel. Among those 65 and older, 53 percent said caring about Israel is essential to being Jewish. Among Jews younger than 30, 32 percent feel this way … The organized Jewish community has been very concerned about whether Jews are maintaining their connection to Israel and the poll will further stir debate.”

Steven M. Cohen, a professor of Jewish social policy at Hebrew Union College and a consultant to the Pew poll, says, “Younger Jews are considerably less supportive of Israel’s policies and less supportive of Israel and the differences are very large. I think we’re seeing a shift, not just a gap.”

The lead article in the November 2013 Commentary, discussing the Pew Study, seems to lament that a lack of anti-Semitism in America is not keeping Jews within the group. The cover headline: “Loving Us To Death: How America’s Embrace Is Imperiling American Jewry.”

Author Jonathan Tobin, senior online editor for Commentary, notes that, “...the acceptance of Jews at every level of American life might be the ultimate proof of American exceptionalism. America is not insisting in any way that Jews assimilate, give up religious practice, or do anything differently. It is Jews themselves who are choosing this path.”

Discussing the Pew study in The Forward (Oct. 26, 2013), Rebecca Vilkomerson, executive director of Jewish Voice for Peace, writes: “The irony here is a subset of Jewish Americans who are in fact strongly connected by every measure to Jewish life, but are being actively pushed out of it. Let’s take my own story as a case study. I was raised in a Conservative synagogue. I grew up to marry an Israeli and lived in Israel for three years. I belong to a synagogue … and I am actively raising my children Jewishly … But part of my Jewish identity … has always been political activism and has ranged from economic justice to fighting for an Israel that would value the equality, dignity, freedom and security of all people in the region, Israeli and Palestinian. Because of these views, I and others like me, are being shut out by the self-appointed leaders of the Jewish community — solely because our political perspective on Israel and Palestine falls outside the acceptable parameters they have unilaterally decided on.”

Vilkomerson notes that, “This voluntary jettisoning of politically engaged Jews is creating a huge loss to the Jewish community, one it can ill afford. Over and over again, I have seen how betrayed young people feel when the same Jewish community that nurtured them and taught them values such as justice and tikkun olam, rejects them when they apply those principles to Israel and the Palestinians … Jewish leaders are claiming to speak for a community that doesn’t agree with them … Any organization that cares about Jewish continuity needs to understand that for a growing number of us, holding Israel to a standard of equality, justice and security for everyone — whether Jewish or Palestinian — is one of the most important ways of expressing our Jewish values … It is time to end the litmus test on Israel.”

The evidence that established Jewish organizations do not represent the men and women in whose name they speak is made abundantly clear by the Pew research, particularly with regard to the confusion of religion and politics with regard to Israel.

Prof. Marc Ellis, author and theologian, writes (Mondoweiss, Oct. 19, 2013): “Take every survey you want. Multiply them until the end of time. The reason for Jews going out is because the Jewish establishment can’t stretch beyond empire. This is the fundamental flaw inside the establishment. It’s been there for a long, long time. Mainstream Judaism is the wrong turn we have to declare our freedom from. The surveys tell us that is exactly what Jews do. … The surveys don’t poll conscience. They don’t survey those who leave because the system is so hypocritical there’s no way to remain and retain your ethical sanity.” •