Friday, December 29, 2006
Survey finds more U.S. Jews
Just when you thought the American Jewish community was dying—or at least the debate about its size—a new study that finds nearly a million more American Jews than previous estimates has resurrected the discussions.
When the United Jewish Communities found in its 2000-2001 National Jewish Population Survey that the American Jewish population stood at roughly 5.2 million, the number was widely scrutinized. Most observers were dismayed by the decrease of 300,000 Jews from the UJC's previous population survey in 1990, and critics claimed the UJC had used flawed methodology.
After two years of debating the accuracy of the 2000-2001 study, the discussion seemed to wane as Jewish communal professionals decided it had value even if it wasn't perfect. But the 2006 American Jewish Yearbook, which came out Dec. 18, claims the U.S. Jewish population is roughly 6.4 million.
University of Miami professor Ira Sheskin and University of Connecticut professor Arnold Dashefsky arrived at the 6.4 million figure from surveys conducted by local Jewish communities.
Sheskin admits that their survey was fundamentally flawed. In counting individual communities, the two professors were bound to overcount by several hundred thousand people because of Jewish "snowbirds" who have two residences. Also, they had to rely on estimates from smaller communities, which can be inexact.
http://www.jewishreview.org/Archives/Article.php?Article=2007-01-01-2926
Just when you thought the American Jewish community was dying—or at least the debate about its size—a new study that finds nearly a million more American Jews than previous estimates has resurrected the discussions.
When the United Jewish Communities found in its 2000-2001 National Jewish Population Survey that the American Jewish population stood at roughly 5.2 million, the number was widely scrutinized. Most observers were dismayed by the decrease of 300,000 Jews from the UJC's previous population survey in 1990, and critics claimed the UJC had used flawed methodology.
After two years of debating the accuracy of the 2000-2001 study, the discussion seemed to wane as Jewish communal professionals decided it had value even if it wasn't perfect. But the 2006 American Jewish Yearbook, which came out Dec. 18, claims the U.S. Jewish population is roughly 6.4 million.
University of Miami professor Ira Sheskin and University of Connecticut professor Arnold Dashefsky arrived at the 6.4 million figure from surveys conducted by local Jewish communities.
Sheskin admits that their survey was fundamentally flawed. In counting individual communities, the two professors were bound to overcount by several hundred thousand people because of Jewish "snowbirds" who have two residences. Also, they had to rely on estimates from smaller communities, which can be inexact.
http://www.jewishreview.org/Archives/Article.php?Article=2007-01-01-2926
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