Abstract
This paper argues that local Jewish community studies have much to contribute, not only at the local level, but also to the national discussion of American Jewry. Local communities have invested significant resources executing local Jewish community studies because the results contribute much to the understanding of, and planning for, individual communities. In an era when no national study has been completed for more than a decade, researchers should make more use of the significant number of extant local Jewish community studies. Examples are provided of the utilization of local Jewish community study data in the examination of national issues.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Conversation with Alan Cooperman, Associate Director of Research with the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, on August 27, 2012. The survey will probably concentrate on demographics and on attitude questions and will probably be respondent and not household-based as has been the case with all the NJPS studies. Thus, comparability of the results with the previous NJPS studies and with many of the local studies may be somewhat compromised.
Uses 1–3 are adapted from Sheskin (2009).
Because of the lack of variation in the data in Table 2, such analysis would not be fruitful.
Note that the variable in Table 4 is the percentage of households who identify as Orthodox. The percentage of persons who identify as Orthodox did increase significantly in New York.
See Hartman and Sheskin (2011, pp. 8–15) for a more complete description of the Decade 2000 Dataset.
These numbers compare to 40% for all households in the more Jewishly-connected sample of NJPS 2000–01, so the Decade 2000 results, while not being a random sample of all American Jews, do, in this instance, fall within the confidence interval of the national finding.
References
Blumberg, Stephen J., and Julian V. Luke. 2011. Wireless substitution: Early release of estimates from the National Health Interview Survey, January–June 2011. Atlanta, GA: National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Burt, James E., Gerald M. Barber, and David L. Rigby. 2009. Elementary statistics for Geographers, 3rd ed. New York: Guilford Press.
Cohen, Steven M., Ron Miller, Ira M. Sheskin, and Berna Torr. 2011. Camp works, The long-term impact of Jewish overnight camp, Evidence from 26 U.S. Jewish population studies on adult Jewish engagement. New York: Foundation for Jewish Camp. www.jewishdatabank.org.
Cohen, Steven M., and Judith Veinstein. 2009. Israeli Jews in Greater New York: Their numbers, characteristics, and patterns of engagement. UJA-Federation of New York. http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=3852.
Curtin, Richard, Stanley Presser, and Eleanor Singer. 2005. Changes in telephone survey nonresponse over the past quarter century. Public Opinion Quarterly 49: 413–428.
Goldstein, Sidney. 1971. American Jewry, 1970, A demographic profile. In American Jewish Year Book, vol. 71, 3–88. New York: American Jewish Committee and the Jewish Publication Society.
Groeneman, Sid, and Tom W. Smith. 2009. Moving: The impact of geographic mobility on the Jewish community. New York: The Jewish Federations of North America. www.jewishdatabank.org.
Groves, Robert M. 2011. Three eras of survey research. Public Opinion Quarterly 75(5): 861–871.
Hartman, Harriet, and Ira M Sheskin. 2011. The influence of community context and individual characteristics on Jewish identity: A 21-community study. Storrs, CT: Mandell L Berman North American Jewish Data Bank, The Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry, and The Jewish Federations of North America. www.jewishdatabank.org.
Hartman, Harriet, and Ira M. Sheskin. 2012. The relationship of Jewish community contexts and Jewish identity: A 22-community study. Contemporary Jewry 32(3): 237–283.
Hartman, Harriet, and Ira M. Sheskin. in press. Estimating the Jewish student population of a college campus. Journal of Jewish Communal Service 88(1/2).
Herring, Hayyim. 2000. How the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey was used by communal professionals for Jewish continuity purposes. Journal of Jewish Communal Service 76: 216–217.
Horowitz, Bethamie. 1994. Findings from the 1991 New York Jewish population study. Contemporary Jewry 15: 4–25.
Kosmin, Barry A., et al. 1991. Highlights of the CJF 1990 National Jewish Population Survey. New York: Council of Jewish Federations.
Kotler-Berkowitz, Laurence, et al. 2003. Strength, challenge and diversity in the American Jewish population. New York: United Jewish Communities.
Sales, Amy L., and Leonard Saxe. 2004. “How goodly are thy tents”, summer camps as Jewish socializing experiences. Hanover: Brandeis University Press.
Saxe, Leonard, Elizabeth Tighe, and Matthew Boxer. in press. Measuring the size and characteristics of American Jewry: 2000–2010. A new paradigm to understand an ancient people. In Studies in Contemporary Jewry, vol. 27, ed. Uzi Rebhun. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sheskin, Ira M. 1994a. Jewish demographic studies: Still necessary after all these years. Contemporary Jewry 15: 1–3.
Sheskin, Ira M. 1994b. Jewish identity in the sunbelt: The Jewish population of Orlando, Florida. Contemporary Jewry 15: 26–38.
Sheskin, Ira M. 1998. A methodology for examining the changing size and spatial distribution of a Jewish population: A Miami case study. Shofar, Special Issue: Studies in Jewish Geography 17(1): 97–116. www.bjpa.org.
Sheskin, Ira M. 2001. How Jewish communities differ: Variations in the findings of local Jewish demographic studies. New York: City University of New York, North American Jewish Data Bank.
Sheskin, Ira M. 2005a. Comparisons between local Jewish community studies and the 2000–01 National Jewish Population Survey. Contemporary Jewry 25: 158–192.
Sheskin, Ira M. 2005b. The Greater Miami Jewish Community Study. Miami: The Greater Miami Jewish Federation. www.jewishdatabank.org.
Sheskin, Ira M. 2009. Local Jewish community studies as planning tools for the American Jewish community. Jewish Political Studies Review 21(1–2): 107–135.
Sheskin, Ira M. 2010a. Jewish Israelis in the United States. Paper presented at the International Geographic Union Regional Conference, Tel Aviv.
Sheskin, Ira M. 2010b. The Jewish overnight camp experience. New York: The Foundation for Jewish Camp.
Sheskin, Ira M. 2010c. A geographical approach to an analysis of the Distancing Hypothesis. Contemporary Jewry 30(2–3): 219–226.
Sheskin, Ira M. 2010d. Elderly Jews: An increasing priority for the American Jewish community? In Changing Jewish Communities Number 58. Jerusalem: Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. www.jcpa.org.
Sheskin, Ira M. 2012a. Comparisons of Jewish communities: A compendium of tables and bar charts. Storrs, CT: Mandell L. Berman North American Jewish Data Bank and the Jewish Federations of North America. www.jewishdatabank.org.
Sheskin, Ira M. 2012b. Attachment of American Jews to Israel: Perspectives from local Jewish community studies. Contemporary Jewry 32(1): 27–65.
Sheskin, Ira M., and Arnold Dashefsky. 2011. Jewish Population in the United States, 2011. In Current Jewish Population Reports, Number 4—2011. Storrs, CT: Mandell L Berman North American Jewish Data Bank, The Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry, and The Jewish Federations of North America. www.jewishdatabank.org.
Tighe, Elizabeth, David Livert, Melissa Barnett, and Leonard Saxe. 2010. Cross-survey analysis to estimate low-incidence religious groups. Sociological Methods & Research 3: 56–82.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sheskin, I.M. Uses of Local Jewish Community Study Data for Addressing National Concerns. Cont Jewry 33, 83–101 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12397-013-9101-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12397-013-9101-y