THE DETROIT MESH MEWS Boris Smolar's `Between You . . . and Me' Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, JTA t (Copyright 1979, JTA, Inc.) 1980 CENSUS.— JEWS MISSING: Every 10 years the U.S. government conducts a census of the population through its Census Bureau. The results play a very impor- tant role in decisions of the federal, state and local govern- ments and their agencies on appropriations of funds to meet social, cultural, welfare and other needs of all segments of the population. They influence other programs of national and local importance, including economic, employment, education, social security and energy. They serve as a basis for the apportionment of seats in the U.S. Congress. The 1980 census will count approximately 222 million people. It will distinguish itself by making special efforts to secure improved data on ethnic and racial groups in the country, especially black and Spanish-speaking people. Its questionnaire will include questions concerning 60 ethnic groups, but not on Jews. Why are Jews as Jews ignored in this most important government project which serves as the foundation for major government decisions concerning the population? Officials of the Census Bureau tell you that Jews are not identified as Jews in the census because they are not considered officially as an ethnic group. They are classified as a religious group. And the Census Bureau abstains from inserting a question of religious affiliation in its question- naire. Some officials hint that they are not entirely happy over the fact that the census does not include specific data on the Jewish population, since this makes the census in- complete. They point out, however, that this is the wish of some Jewish organizations which insist on maintaining in the census the spirit of separation of state and church. ISSUE OF JEWISH IDENTIFICATION: Seeking a way, nevertheless, to identify the Jews, the Census Bureau made a trial effort in 1957 to give data on Jews as Jews in its monthly Current Population Survey. It then established that the total Jewish population was 5,039,000, of whom 3,868,000 were over the age of 14. This information was very useful and beneficial to the Jewish community, as would be other data on various as- pects of Jewish life if it were given in the census. It was considered authentic. But no sooner were the figures on Jews made public than the Census Bureau received pro- tests from some Jewish groups. Without further ado, it dropped the question of religious affiliation from the decen- tennial censuses that followed in 1960, 1970 and now in 1980. While the Census Bureau does not identify American Jews as Jews, it does identify Israeli natives as an ethnic group in this country. It includes them in the list of the 60 ethnic groups of foreign stock by birth as well as by mixed American-Israeli parentage. The last census of 1970 gives the number of Jews with Israel as their country of origin as 59,097. Of them, 23,239 were born in this country either of Israeli or of mixed Israeli-American parentage. Data on Americans of Israeli origin by nativity will also be included in the 1980 census. It is regrettable that Jews are not identified as Jews in the census. One of the detrimental results — and there are many of them — is that American Jewry, the largest Jewish community in the world, still lacks authentic in- formation on such a basic matter as its total number in the country. There is data compiled by the American Jewish Year Book and by the Jewish Population Study of the Council of Jewish Federations. However, this data is built on estimates, and there are some discrepancies between these two major sources, although both indicate that the Jewish population in the U.S. is declining. The AJYB esti- mates that there was a total of 5,845,685 Jews in this country in 1976 as compared with 6,060,000 in 1971, while the CJF Population Study shows that in the early 1970s the American Jewish community had a population of 5,798,000. CJF demographic experts Alvin Chenkin and Maynard Miran estimate that there are now about 5,780,000 Jews in this country. The confusion on data concerning the Jewish popula- tion is even greater when it comes to estimating the Jewish population in New York, where Jews once constituted 40 percent of the entire population and now are estimated to constitute only 16 percent. The AJYB gives the Jewish population figure of Greater New York as being 1,998,000 compared with the New York City estimate of 2,294,000 way back in 1953. Other Jewish demographers assert that the number is very much smaller than the one given in the American Jewish Year Book. There is no doubt that it would serve the Jewish com- munity well to have in its possession data on Jewish de- mography collected by the Census Bureau. American Jews, spending billions of dollars a year on their i institutions, are losing in various directions by the absence of their identifi- cation from the general census. Peres to Head Labor List TEL AVIV (JTA) — The intense rivalry within the Labor Party between Shi- mon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin and Yigal Allon as to which of them would head the party's list in the next na- tional election for premier ended Sunday when the party's central committee voted overwhelmingly for Peres to head the list. In a jubilant speech after the vote, Peres, who is the party's chairman, said he was imbued with a renewed confidence. "There is no longer any internal (party) rivalry. Our rival is the Likud and only the Likud." The 721 central commit- tee members who partici- pated in the weekend con- ference, the largest number in attendance in the party's history, cast 457 votes for Peres, 224 against and 40 abstained. The surprise in the vote was not that Peres, who ran uncontested, re- ceived approval to head the list but the number that voted against him. Rabin is bitterly op- posed to Peres and has stated on various occa- sions that he does not re- gard Peres as suitable to be premier. Rabin had expressed support for Allon who, after Sun- day's election, declared again that he would cam- paign for the leadership of the party at the party's convention next June. Allon claimed that those who voted against Peres had, in effect, registered support for him. During the weekend conclave all the speakers, including Rabin and Allon, stressed the need for a unified party in order HIAS Official NEW YORK — Richard Kellerman has been named associate director of public relations for HIAS, the world-wide Jewish migra- tion agency. "Your Office Metropolitan Detroit's Most Complete Stationer Boy" a/A • • • • • • SHIMON PERES to win the voters' confidence and to achieve an electoral victory over the Likud. Friday, January 25, 1980 19 • Office Supplies Office Machines Office & Home Furniture Complete Gift Selections Printing • Rubber Stamps Data & Word Processing Supplies "Your Office Girl" modern Office, INC 31535 Southfield Rd. between 13 & 14 Mile HOURS: Mon.-Fri. 8-5 . Sat. 9-11 642 - 5600 SHOULD YOU SELL OLD UNWANTED GOLD & JEWELRY? Come Into Tapper's To See What It's Worth We Pay Highest Prices IMMEDIATE CASH!! 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