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Assessing Critical Opportunities for Enhancing Jewish Identity

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Assessing Critical Opportunities for Enhancing Jewish Identity Connections and Journeys: Assessing Critical Opportunities for Enhancing Jewish Identity Bethamie Horowitz, Ph.D. A report to the Commission on Jewish Identity and Renewal UJA-Federation of New York June, 2000 (revised September, 2003) © 2003. UJA-Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York. All Rights Reserved. Connections and Journeys is the sole property of UJA-Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York (“UJA-Federation”) and is protected by U. S. copyright laws. UJA-Federation retains the sole right to use, reproduce and distribute Connections and Journeys. No other use, reproduction or distribution of this material, or any part thereof, by any entity or person is permitted without the express written permission of UJA-Federation. i Contents Executive Summary iii Acknowledgments viii Introduction x ONE Studying Jewishness in an Age of Choice 1 TWO Connections: The Seven Patterns of Jewish Engagement 21 THREE What Works? Factors that Influence Jewish Engagement 92 FOUR Journeys: Changes in Jewish Identity Over the Life Course 142 FIVE Conclusions and Implications 182 Appendices A: Comparing Samples: The Connections and Journeys, 1998 and the New York Jewish Population Study, 1991 193 B: Instruments: In-depth Interview Guide 200 Survey Questionnaire and Marginals 205 References 236 ii Executive Summary Connections and Journeys: Assessing Critical Opportunities for Enhancing Jewish Identity Bethamie Horowitz. Introduction This study was funded by the Jewish Continuity Commission of UJA-Federation of New York. It grew out of a desire to better understand Jewish identity in the generations of American Jews born after World War II and to take a fresh look at the role that Judaism continues to play in the lives of these individuals. There was a concern that conventional approaches to studying issues of Jewish identity were no longer adequate. Instead, a more comprehensive study was needed to produce an accurate picture of where, if at all, being Jewish fits into people’s lives today and to portray how a person’s relationship to being Jewish evolves over the course of his or her lifetime. The purpose of the Connections and Journeys study is to provide insight into two aspects of American-Jewish identity. First, the study explores people’s current connections to Judaism. What does being Jewish mean to them? In what ways, if at all, do they identify as Jews? How do they relate to their Jewishness? Understanding how individuals see themselves -- as men and women, Jews, Americans, professionals, parents, etc. -- and how their Jewishness interacts with other facets of identity is essential in analyzing the life choices that these Jews make (for instance, friend and spouse selections, educational and career decisions, involvement in organizational and philanthropic activities). By looking at the connections that people forge between their Judaism and other aspects of their lives, this study describes more carefully than previous research the varieties of Jewishness that currently exist, attempting to move beyond the conventional ways of categorizing different types of Jews in terms of “denomination” or mere “affiliation.” Second, the Connections and Journeys study examines people’s journeys -- how people’s Jewish identities change and develop throughout the life course. What experiences and relationships, beginning with one’s early life experiences and extending on into adulthood, positively or negatively impact a person’s Jewish identity? To what extent, if at all, are people’s relationships to being Jewish inscribed during childhood and how malleable are these ties later on in life? iii Research Design The target population for this study was American-born individuals between the ages of 22 to 52 years old, residing in the eight-county UJA-Federation of New York catchment area. All participants had some sort of sociological connection to Judaism. The research design for this study employed a variety of data sources and methods, both qualitative and quantitative, and was implemented over the course of three interrelated phases. The first task of the study was to gain a rich, detailed picture of people's individual stories, a job best accomplished through in-depth interviews. Eighty-eight such interviews were conducted between February and July 1996. The second phase of the research design involved a series of focus groups, in which the themes that emerged from the individual interviews were explored in a small-group setting, in order to examine some of the shared, social aspects regarding Jewishness. These group discussions were conducted in April and May 1997. Finally, based on the findings from the in-depth interviews and the focus groups, a survey of 1,504 Jewishly-connected adults ages 22-52 was carried out between February and May, 1998. Where the in-depth interviews emphasized the uniqueness of Jewish experiences of individuals, the survey sample was designed to be more broadly representative of the range of Jewish expression and connection in the population. A New Conceptual Approach to Studying Jewish Identity This study develops a new conceptual approach to examining Jewish identity. In addition to considering a person’s active involvement in religious and cultural-communal practices and activities (the conventional ways of examining Jewish involvement) it looks directly at a person’s identity in terms of his or her self-perception and self- definition as a Jew. This subjective-perceptual dimension has been termed Subjective Jewish Centrality. The study has shown that to better understand how Jewish identity has developed and how it may be changing in coming years, it is essential to study Jewish self-perception as well as Jewish practice. Findings Three Overall Modes of Jewishness From the vantage point of current identity, three overall modes of Jewishness emerged: those with steady low or non-involvement; those with mixed patterns of Jewish engagement; and those with intensive Jewish engagement. Among these three broad conceptions of Jewishness, the two extremes are well understood and corroborate with “conventional wisdom” about Jewish life – that the American Jewish future is a forced iv choice between assimilation and Jewish distinctiveness. The middle possibility, which has been less well understood up to now, will be more fully explicated in this study. The typical image of assimilation involves people abandoning Judaism for a society that accepts them. As identified in this study, however, assimilation differs from the popular conception in that it no longer involves a conscious rejection of Judaism or of being Jewish, rather it results from a basic indifference about the subject. After all, rejection is a pattern that requires some previous involvement so that one has something to reject. This was a phenomenon more characteristic of the children of immigrants in America fifty years ago, at a time when America was less tolerant of group distinctiveness and Jews themselves were less secure in their American-ness. For the younger Jews of today who are fully in the mainstream of American life, there is no longer a feeling of forced choice between being Jewish and becoming American. Being American has simply become the default position, and any active relationship to Jewishness requires either prior commitment (i.e. a history of involvement or prior socialization) or an act of will. The counterpoint to assimilation and indifference is intensive Jewish engagement and meaningfulness. Under this model individuals value the Jewish worldview and lifestyle over that of the American mainstream. This outlook is most sharply exemplified by the Orthodox separatist model, where there is strong Jewish engagement coupled with a clear distance from the American mainstream. But strong commitment and high Jewish practice are also characteristic of a significant non-separatist subculture where people seek both Jewish and American involvement and sophistication. Included here is a group of highly engaged non-Orthodox individuals who are also part of the American mainstream, but who, like the Orthodox, are highly committed to Jewish observance. In between the two poles of assimilation and intensive Jewish involvement is a mixed pattern of Jewish engagement, which is perhaps the most distinctively American of the three modes. This middle mode combines two dimensions: a more circumscribed Jewish involvement along with integration and high achievement in the American mainstream. The people who have mixed patterns of Jewish engagement are not indifferent about being Jewish, but their ongoing Jewish involvement depends on it both being meaningful and fitting in with their lives. The people who subscribe to this third form of Jewishness experience their Judaism as a set of values and historical people-consciousness rather than as a mode of observance. Seven Patterns of Jewish Engagement From these three broad “working theories” about how to be Jewish a series of seven distinct patterns of Jewish engagement were identified. The Assimilated Otherwise Engaged group was differentiated into two subgroups: those who were Really Indifferent about being Jewish, many of whom happened to be younger and less settled; and a group of people with “Some modicum of Interest,” many of whom happened to be older and more settled. There were three subgroups among those with mixed patterns of Jewish engagement: those with strong Subjective Involvement who did not express their Jewish commitments in normative, recognizably Jewish ways; those who had
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