Jews, More or Less

Publication Date: September 1984

Publisher: Moment Magazine

Author(s): Steven M. Cohen; Calvin Goldscheider

Research Area: Culture and religion; Population and demographics

Keywords: American Jews; Demography; Jewish Identification

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

What’s happening with the numbers of Jews in the United States? It seems relatively stable if not growing. From a birth rate perspective, the Jewish community seems stable. What looked like Jewish women decreasing childbearing was actually women delaying childbearing, and at the rate as non-Jewish women, in response to the increased educational and employment opportunities in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Rates of intermarriage seem to have leveled off and in terms of the results of intermarriage, evidence (though sparse) shows that if there is at least an exchange, with a quarter of once non-Jewish wives becoming Jewish and many Jews (especially women) maintaining Jewish activity and identity even in intermarriages. It seems that intermarriage brings about at most a slight decline and possibly a substantial increase in the number of Jewish children. Why all the hype about decreasing numbers? Steven Cohen and Calvin Goldsheider discuss the sociological data and also the social and cultural factors going into this discourse, including a certain communal impairment of vision regarding the Jewish involvement of especially younger Jews and Jews in non traditional families.

In Moment, v.9 no.8, September 1984, p.41-46.