Report From Lithuania


 

Publication Date: November 1999

Publisher: Hadassah International Research Institute on Jewish Women

Author(s): Basia Nikiforova

Research Area: Culture and religion; Population and demographics; Social conditions

Keywords: Assimilation; Culture; Intermarriage; History

Type: Brief

Coverage: Lithuania

Abstract:

The author explains the situation of the Lithuanian Jewish community, situating it in its historical and geopolitical context. The tiny remaining community (5,500) constitutes 0.2% of the population of Lithuania, has a 41% rate of intermarriage, and 56% of their children are born into families of mixed-origin. Only 42% of them identify themselves as Jewish. To what extent Jews might disappear in Lithuania and how quickly that could occur depends on the current and future Jewish identity of children from mixed marriages, and the focus of the authorÂ’s research is the role of Jewish women in the promotion of childrenÂ’s Jewish identity in the mixed family.