THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
DANCE! into the 80's
Shrinking of U.S. Jewish Population
Topic of Concern for Communal Leaders
By BEN GALLOB
NEW YORK (JTA) — A
total of 121 Jewish com-
munal leaders and demog-
raphic experts, concerned
over the steady shrinkage of
the American Jewish popu-
lation, met at two confer-
ences here from which
emerged differences of opin-
ion on the steepness and
rapidity of the decline and a
variety of proposals for deal-
ing with it, some of which
were reported to be in the
planning stages or in effect
currently.
One of the gatherings, a
two-day National Confer-
ence on Jewish Population
Growth, sponsored by the
American Jewish Commit-
tee, recommended a list of
actions which the particip-
ants agreed should be un-
dertaken "to remove the
roadblocks" to larger
Jewish families.
That conference drew 85
representatives of more
than 30 national`Jewish or-
ganizations who agreed
that among the forces which
threaten Jewish survival —
including anti-Semitism,
assimilation and mixed
marriage — "The low fertil-
ity rate of Jewish families,
which is lower than that of
American families vts a
whole, is most fundamen-
tal.)"
On the day after that
conference, 36 members
of the Jewish Population
Think Tank, sponsored
by the Commission on
_Synagogue Relations of
the Federation of Jewish
Philanthropies of New
York, met at the federa-
tion to examine the same
problem.
After the two-day confer-
ence, seven proposals were
listed by Yehuda Rosen-
man, director of the AJ-
Committee's communal af-
fairs department, and Dr.
Steven Bayme, department
assistant director, who
coordinated the conference.
They were: Jewish family
life education for singles
and young married couples;
Jewish-sponsored day care
centers; opportunity for
part-time jobs for both
spouses; placing greater
value on women's work as
housewives and mothers;
mortgage assistance for
young couples; discourage-
ment of "living together" by
Jewish adults before mar-
riage; and recognition by
prospective parents and the
Jewish community that
childlessness, like the
Holocaust, dooms humanity
as well as the Jewish com-
munity.
Rosenman said the time
had come "to underscore the
basic truth that increasing
the average number of chil-
dren in Jewish families to
three or four" is "an impera-
tive for Jewish survival."
Dr. Robert Gordis, a
leading Conservative
rabbi who was chairman
of the conference, said he
felt that "the synagogue
should take the lead in
honoring Jewish families
by some form of public
recognition" and that
rabbis generally should
promote the goal of three
children as the basic
minimum for every nor-
mal Jewish family.
The best available esti-
mate for the current Ameri-
can Jewish family is 1.6
children per couple, com-
pared with the overall
American population of 2.2
children.
Bayme said there will be
follow-up efforts, under
AJCommittee auspices, "to
remove the roadblocks
which now make the birth
and rearing of children ex-
ceedingly difficult in
economic and sociological
terms." The conference cal-
led on all segments of
American Jewry, he said "to
undertake the implementa-
tion of programs designed to
achieve the goal of in-
creased Jewish family
growth which will enhance
the quality of our lives as
human beings, Jews and
Americans."
Judith Zimmerman, an
author and lecturer, was
chairperson for the confer-
ence of the Federation
Think Tank on Population,
which was attended by 36
leaders to analyze the im-
plications of a population
study presented to them by
sociologist Fred Massarik of
the University of California
at Los Angeles, who di-
rected the first National
Jewish Population Study in
1970-1971 under auspices of
the Council of Jewish Fed-
erations.
The new Massarik
study, "Assessing Jewish
Survival: Conserving the
Evidence, 1971-1981,"
synthesized Jewish
population data for the
decade and made some
projections for the fu-
ture, as well as recom-
mendations, Ms. Zim-
merman said.
One of Massarik's basic
conclusions, from his evalu-
ation of many studies, in-
cluding the National
Jewish Population Study,
was more moderate than
views expressed by others
on the subject forecasting a
rapid decline in the size of
the Jewish population to a
very small number.
Massarik concluded that
"while there may be occa-
sional small incremental
rises in the birthrate in the
United States Jewish popu-
lation, these will be build-
ing on a gradual consistent
forward slope in total
Jewish population size." He
reported that the existing
evidence "suggests a con-
Friday, November 25, 1983 31
PARTIES BY
tinuing moderate Jewish
population loss" in this
country.
Demographer Paul Rit-
terand of New York urged
the importance of establish
ing a "normative climate"
for acceptance of larger
Jewish families. William
Kahn, federation executive
vice president, said he was
"optimistic that we, the
Jewish organizational lead-
ership, can implement
policies — such as paternity
leaves — which will foster
this climate and make an
impact on.people's decisions
to have an enjoyable family
life."
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