CSJO-CU8.11

=CSJO-Grade 8 Lesson 8.11 (CSJO-Template)=


 * TITLE: American Jewish Demographic Changes**
 * GOALS:** To explore the changing demographics of American Jews with regard to belief, practices and affiliations including the rapid growth of the Orthodox and the secularization (see supplement below) of the remainder including movement away from religious institutions. To reinforce previously learned idea that institutional beliefs and practices often differ from those of its members
 * MATERIALS:**
 * LESSON:**
 * 1. Gain the attention of the learner:** Play category slam: two volunteers will come to the center and a category will be shouted out. The volunteers will have to continuously name things within that category. When one person runs out of things in that category, s/he sits down and someone else faces the champion. Categories: Jewish actors (Adam Sandler, Richard Lewis, Bette Midler, etc.), Israeli dances (Mayim, Turkish Kiss, Manavu, etc.), Jewish food (Latkes, Matzah ball soup, Kugel, etc.), Yiddish words (Oy, gevalt, shmutz, bagel, Yom Tov, etc.), Jewish Holidays (Pesach, Purim, Hannukah, etc.). Let students choose some of the categories at the end.
 * 2. Relevant past learning:** In previous lessons we have seen how Jews created new religious and secular institutions to adapt to modernity while at the same time retaining the ability to organize as Jews. We also saw that the institutional beliefs were sometimes different from those of individual members. In today's lesson, we will look at some of the trends in Jewish affiliations, practices and beliefs with an eye towards where secular Jews are in relation to nonsecular Jews and where both may be heading.
 * 3. Introduce new material:**

Trends in Jewish Life
 * Rise of ultraorthodox
 * Loss of membership and interest in previously dominant liberal Jewish center - Conservative and Reform membership
 * Increasing secularization of Jews and rise of nones

Both the Pew Resource Center in 2013 (PEW) and Kosmir and Keyser in 2012 (K & K) reported results of surveys of Jewish activities, affiliations, practices and beliefs. To decide who counts as a Jew, they used the following categories: All Jews in US Population (Total in all categories 6.5 million)
 * Jewish by Religion (4.2 million) (JBR) – may or may not include SHJ
 * Jews of No Religion (1.2 million) (JNR or Nones) - includes many SHJ
 * Raised Jewish and/or have a Jewish parent
 * Identify as Jewish or Partly Jewish
 * Have no religion
 * Jews by Choice (1.2 million) - e.g. non Jewish spouse who self-identifies as Jewish, Messianic Jews
 * Identify as Jewish or Partly Jewish
 * Neither raised Jewish nor have a Jewish parent (e.g. Hans Leander)
 * Omitted from most results in Pew
 * Included in Lahn and K & K studies
 * Net Jewish Population (5.3 million) - Jews by Religion plus Jews of No Religion (same as Total minus Jews by Choice)
 * When there are differences between Pew and K&K, usually a matter of degree and not kind and often can be accounted for by whether or not Jews by Choice are included

US Adult Jewish Demographics - the overall trend for American religious affiliation is a decrease with decreasing age. Jews are at the leading edge of this trend.
 * Jewish by religion: 78 % - about 20% less than in 1990
 * Jews of no religion: 22% - almost twice as many as 1990
 * Younger the adult, the more likely to be JNR
 * Jews 30 years old or younger in 2010 - 32% JNR
 * Jews 83 to 96 years old in 2010 - 7% JNR

Being Jewish more about culture and ancestry than religion - Reform Judaism at its inception in the early 1800's said being Jewish meant being part of the Jewish religion and not part of a Jewish national or cultural group.
 * 62% of Net Jewish and even 55% of JBR say being Jewish is more about culture and ancestry.

Intermarriage - Many Jews fear that intermarriage (Jews marrying non-Jews) will result in children who are not Jewish and a decrease in the Jewish population
 * Intermarriage seems to have peaked at around 58%
 * Steady increase in intermarriage from 17% before 1970 to 58% after 2000
 * Intermarriage decreases with religiousity
 * from 69% of JNR to only 2% of orthodox with Reform and Conservative somewhere in the middle
 * Intermarrieds much more likely to raise children as non Jewish
 * 37% of Jews married to non-Jews raise their children as non Jewish vs 1% of Jews married to Jews
 * Also means that 63% of intermarried Jews raise their children as Jewish
 * Young adults from intermarriages are Jewish more likely to be Jewish - Almost 60% Jewish (30% JNR, 29% JBR)
 * Older adults from intermarriages less likely to be Jewish - only 40% Jewish
 * Fraction of Adult Jews from intermarriage is rising from 6% for those over 70 years old to 48% for those less than 30

Families - The size of the next generation of Jews depends heavily on the number of children in each family and on how those children are being raised.
 * Two thirds of JNR with minor children not raising their children as Jewish in any way
 * JNR Have smaller families (av. 1.5 children vs 2.1 for JBR, most of latter due to Orthodox with over 4)
 * Orthodox fraction of total will likely continue to increase

Ethnicity - willingness to identify with being Jewish and things Jewish is likely to affect the strength of the Jewish community in the current and next generation
 * Vast majority proud to be Jewish (83% for JNR, 97% for JBR)
 * Minority (42%) of JNR have strong sense of belonging to Jewish people (vs. 85% of JBR)
 * Smaller minority (36%) of JNR feel special responsibility to care for Jews in need (vs. 71% of JBR)

What it Means to be Jewish (% of Net Jewish)
 * Remember Holocaust (73%)
 * Lead ethical/moral life (69%)
 * Part of a Jewish community (28%)
 * Observe Jewish law (14%)

The size and strength of the Jewish community is affected by who is accepted as a Jew. Can you be Jewish if you (% of Net Jewish):
 * Work on Shabbat (94%)
 * Do not believe in God (68%)
 * Believe Jesus is the messiah (34%)

Two people professing belief in God may believe in very different beings. The following survey items look at who believes and what that means. Views about God (From Lahn)
 * Created universe (6% of secular/cultural, 25% of less religious, 90% of more religious)
 * Conscious being (none of secular/cultural, none of less religious, 40% of more religious)
 * No Gods at all (67% of secular/cultural, none (0%) of all religious)
 * Don't know - presumed agnostic (20% of secular/cultural, 25% of all religious)

Younger Jews are less likely to be members of a synagogue and believers. K & K looked at how Jews associate and affiliate in non-religious ways. Secular Jewish Culture Today
 * Literary culture
 * Magazines and Periodicals
 * Jewish Studies in American colleges
 * Museums
 * Film Festivals
 * Comedy
 * Secular Jewish Schools and Camps
 * Israeli Folk Dancing

Summary of Jewish Nones from Surveys
 * Comprise 1/5 to 1/3 of all Jews
 * Fraction is steadily increasing
 * Not joiners
 * High intermarriage
 * Proud of Jewishness
 * Attend Jewish activities w/ non-Jews
 * Most are believers
 * Often anti Religious (anti-organized religion/practice??)

4. **Provide guided practice**: Split students up into groups. Give each group the statistics of a distinct Jewish group, within the Jewish community. Have students make a graph of the year and prevalence of that group. Graphs can be made via poster and markers, string, bodies; let students get creative with this assignment. Groups come together and share the trend of each sect. Then discuss: -- Which sects of Judaism are dwindling? Which groups are flourishing? -- What are some possible reasons that the number of Reform Jews is decreasing? What are some possible reasons that the number of Orthodox and Secular Jews are growing? 5. **Provide independent practice**: Students will read Prival's article on why organized SHJ is lacking numbers, even though the number of non-religious Jews is growing. Can read individually or in partners. Discuss: -- What were the main points Prival makes in his article? -- What are other reasons SHJ lacks in numbers? -- What are some improvements that can be made to our community to make it more appealing? -- What are some things you'd like to see change in the SHJ community, for your personal needs? 6. Close the lesson:<???> 7. References:
 * Howe, Irving (1976). **World of Our Fathers**, Harcourt, Brace and Jovanovich, New York and London
 * Sachar, Howard M. (2013-07-24). **A History of the Jews in America** (Vintage). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
 * Dancis, Barry (2014-01-12). **[[file:2014 Machar - Secular Expressions of Jewish Culture.pdf|Secular Expression of Jewish Culture]].** Presentation at Machar, Washington Congregation for Secular Humanistic Judaism
 * Lahn, Alyssa (2012-06-09). **What Do Jews Think of Secular Humanistic Judaism**, Machar bat mitzvah presentation
 * Kosmin, Barry A., and Keysar, Ariela. **American Jewish Secularism: Jewish Life Beyond the Synagogue**, Chapter 1 in American Jewish Year Book (2012), A. Dashefsky & I. Sheskin (eds.)
 * [|Pew Research Center: A Portrait of Jewish Americans, (2013-10-1)]
 * [|http://www.pewforum.org/2013/12/03/infographic-survey-of-jewish-americans/ (2014-05-13)]
 * [|http://jewishcurrents.org/bennett-muraskin-secular-jewish-education-a-critique-14181(2014-05-18)]



summary of possible reasons SHJ is lacking in numbers

Speculate reasons for current Jewish trends

Share what SHJ does that other sects do not do...what do we do well? Then ask students to brainstorm what needs are not being met in the SHJ community (after they list some, give some more)

Give students the dates and numbers of different kinds of Jews. Have students create graphs, on poster board, of evolving Jewish trends.

Supplemental Material

Definition of Secularization (from Kosmin and Keysar, 2012, page 7) "If we accept a common sociological definition of secularization, the process whereby religion and the clergy (halakhah and the rabbinate) lose their primary significance within society and their hegemonic position with regard to claims of truth and authority, then the 90% of American Jews who are not members of an Orthodox congregation are all secularized in some way. For most American Jews this involves general disengagement from synagogues and a subordination of religious values to secular agendas. It has occurred among Jews in a similar way as for other Western peoples as each society has adopted a more rational and utilitarian basis for its decisions. The by now classical theory of secularization argues that secularization is linked with modernization, industrialization, urbanization and rationalization (Norris and Inglehart 2004). This involves the emergence of democratic societies based on liberal values that emphasized individual rights and inter-group tolerance (Bruce 2002; Waltzer 1984)."