Conservative Synagogues and Their Members: Highlights of the North American Study of 1995-96

Publication Date: September 1996

Publisher: Ratner Center for the Study of Conservative Judaism

Author(s): Jack Wertheimer; Nancy T. Ammerman; Steven M. Cohen; Alice Goldstein

Research Area: Culture and religion

Keywords: American Jews; Conservative Judaism; Congregations

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

This publication has a two-fold purpose: to inform a wide readership interested in the condition of North American Jewry about the largest segment of synagogue-affiliated Jews in the United States and Canada; and to serve as a self-study document for the Conservative movement and its leaders. This report presents findings from five distinct, yet interrelated, research projects:

* The National Jewish Population Survey of 1990.

* A congregational survey of approximately half of the affiliates of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

* A membership survey about the characteristics and Jewish commitments of over 1,700 synagogue members of randomly selected congregations.

* A survey of recent bar and bat mitzvah celebrants conducted in order to learn about the Jewish identity and experiences of nearly 1,500 young people.

* Two separate ethnographic studies studying two congregations in the Northeast two in the Midwest.