THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

PURELY COMMENTARY

Jewish population

Continued from Page 2

Ena Robinson, president of the Le Centre Socio-Cultural
Judaic de Quebec, who said: When a synagogue disap-
pears, the Jewish community disappears." She spoke of the
35 Jewish families remaining in Quebec, the oldest Jewish
community in Quebec Province, now suffering drastic de-
clines.
Even in West Germany, where the Jewish population
consists of a mere remnant of the pre-war cultural citadel of
600,000, there are declines in the Jewish population. The
official bulletin of the German Information Center, repre-
senting the Federal Republic of Germany, provides these
facts:
Jewish communities in the Federal Republic
are slowly shrinking, it was announced at the
latest assembly of representatives of the West Be-
rlin Jewish community. Across the country,
membership in Jewish congregations declined
from 28,272 in 1983 to 27,791 this year, the dele-
gates learned. In West Berlin, which has the
largest Jewish population in Germany, the num-
bers decreased from 6,558 last year to 6,370 in
1984; Heinz Galinski, chairman of the West Berlin
Jewish community, explained that the trend was
due to the high average age of members and to the
ebb of Jewish immigration to the city.
On the American scene, there are notable changing
conditions and new developments. Many communities are
registering declines numerically, at the same time the Sun
Belt is acquiring a new Jewish image. An item in the ZINS
news service explains the new trend in this interesting
fashion:
The Sun Belt states of the South and West are
now home for one-third of all American Jews,
according to a demographic study appearing in
the just published 1984 American Jewish 'Year-
book. The states with the largest Jewish popula-
tion, as of 1983, were: New York - 1,869,190;
California - 789,260; Florida - 479,180; New Jersey -
425,180; Pennsylvania - 408,475; Massachusetts -
249,045; Illinois - 261,985; Maryland - 199,915; Ohio
- 137,785; Connecticut - 108,575.
Some years ago, there was an estimated Michigan
Jewish population approaching 110,000. While this was
never fully ascertained, there is no doubt that even its
exaggeration must be taken into account in speculating the
present statewide Michigan Jewish population to be less
than 85,000.
A special note of interest is related to Jewry in the
District of Columbia. A recent JTA analysis gave these
demographic facts:
The 157,000 Jews in 67,000 households in
Washington's metropolitan area are about six-
percent of the area's total population, about twice
the average proportion of Jews among Ameri-
cans generally.
The data
from a survey, commissioned
by the United - Jewish Appeal Federation of
Greater Washington. Population totals indicate
that Washington's Jewish population ranks
seventh in the United States, surpassed only by
the Jewish populations of New York City, Los
Angeles, Philadelphia, Miami, Chicago and Bos-
ton.
Taking into consideration the new Sun Belt status of
U.S. Jewry, one community merits special consideration. It
is reported that the San Diego, Calif., Jewish population
has almost tripled in a decade. The estimated current San
Diego Jewish community of 50,000 is now considered the
20th largest in the U.S. Jewish ratings.
Thus demography becomes an important factor in
Jewish communal planning. The population decline serves
as a challenge to the philanthropic as well as social services
and those affecting the U.S. Jewish relationships with
Israel. It is a subject of challenge which may well prove an
inspiration for realism and for all constructive efforts to be
pursued in retaining for Jewry in this country the strongest
possible links with world Jewries and especially with Is-
rael.

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Friday, August 31, 1984

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