Abstract
The full richness of the Pew survey is best appreciated by reading beyond the headlines and the highlights. Fascinating data on the backgrounds of the religion/ no religion Jews are relegated to later pages and more complex tables in the report, and have received little reportorial attention. The gender of the Jewish parent matters: 80 percent of Jews by religion were raised by two Jewish parents, 10 percent by a Jewish mother only, and 6 percent by a Jewish father only. Conversely, only 40 percent of Jews of no religion were raised by two Jewish parents, 24 percent by a Jewish mother only, and 33 percent by a Jewish father only. Low rates of conversion are revealed: Among persons who consider themselves Jewish today, both by religion and with no religion, only 3 percent report themselves not raised by Jews; 2 percent converted into Judaism and 1 percent did not formally convert. After a long wait, the American Jewish community once again has a rich, large national demographic study of American Jewish life to learn from and argue about - the recently released "Portrait of Jewish Americans" published by the Pew Research Center. Based on interviews with 3,475 respondents' the study di_ vides its respondents throughout into "Jews by religion" (78 percent) and "Jews of no religion," (22 percent), and presents data on the ways these two groups of American Jews are - and are not - connected to things Jewish, as well as their attitudes towards Israel, American leaders and a few political issues. This pattern is passed along and exacerbated in the next generation. The survey's authors write: "Jewish parents who are married to a Jewish spouse are roughly four times as likely [82 percent to 22 percent] to have enrolled their children" in Jewish educational programs compared with Jews married to nonJews. Again, this intermarried population overlaps with the "no religion" Jewish population: only 13 percent of Jews with no religion had children enrolled in Jewish educational programs, compared to 59 percent of Jewish by religion.