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The impact of varieties of jewish education upon jewish identity: An inter-generational perspective

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Abstract

This study assesses the impact of several forms of Jewish education upon composite measures of Jewish identity for teenagers and for their parents. The analysis controls for each generation’s parents ’ Jewishness as well as for other factors. All forms of Jewish edcuation, except Sunday school, are associated with higher levels of Jewish identity in both generations. The putative effects of day school, including non-Orthodox day schools, are especially pronounced. Among adults, all forms of Jewish education, except Sunday school, are associated with lower rates of intermarriage. The likely impact of youth groups, Israel travel on intermarriage rates is rather small.

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This research was supported by a grant from the Joint Authority for Jewish-Zionist Education of the WZO and the JAFI. I express my gratitude to Sylvia Barack Fishman, Alice Goldstein, and Susan Wall for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper.

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Cohen, S.M. The impact of varieties of jewish education upon jewish identity: An inter-generational perspective. Cont Jewry 16, 68–96 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02962388

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