THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
all Jewish households are
comprised of married couples
who either have children or
intend to have children. The
Jewish divorce rate is bet-
ween six and ten percent,
which is consistent with the
national average. Those who
divorce are likely to re-marry
and stay re-married.
Jews are "outrageously"
well-educated, Tobin said.
While 18 percent of the
general population has an ad-
vanced degree, up to 70 per-
cent of the Jewish population
has a college or advanced
degree, and the trend toward
more advanced education
among Jews continues to
increase.
Contrary to popular myth,
though, most Jews are not
professionals. But the percen-
tage of professional Jews
(between 20 and 25 percent)
is higher than the national
average (17 percent). About
15 percent of the Jewish
population is at, or near, the
poverty level.
Tobin said that his findings
on religious affiliation and
identity are contrary to
"what rabbis like to ser-
monize about" and are more
optimistic than the percep-
tion among Jewish organiza-
tions. (But that depends on
one's own views, since some
of Tobin's statistics in this
area seemed downright de-
pressing to anyone with a
minimal interest in preserv-
ing Judaism.)
In any event, Tobin found
that 80 percent of American
Jews attend synagogue ser-
vices at least once or twice a
year and up to 90 percent at-
tend a Passover Seder. Also,
more than three-quarters of the
Jewish population either now
receive, have received or will
receive some form of Jewish
education. And a similar per-
centage either now belong to,
have belonged to or intend to
belong to a synagogue or
Jewish organization though
only 40 percent belong at any
given time. Statistics in-
dicate that the larger the
city, the smaller the percent-
age of affiliation.
Most encouraging are To-
bin's findings that there is
"near universal support for
Israel — about 95 percent —
I can't get that kind of
response to a question like
`do you like your mother?'
— and the fact that the per-
centage of Jews who have
visited Israel or intend to
visit has increased signifi-
cantly in the last 15 years. In
1970, about 16 percent of
American Jews had been to
Israel. The current statistic is
between 30 and 40 percent,
with the percentage reaching
close to 50 percent by 1990.
As for religious labels,
most Jews identify as Con-
servative- or Reform, with
Conservative outnumbering
Reform. The percentage of
Orthodox Jews ranges from
three percent in Washington,
D.C., one of the most
assimilated areas of the coun-
try, to but 13 percent in
New York. Tobin noted that
most young Jews list
themselves as "nothing" or
Reform, and that equal
numbers of young Jews list
themselves as "just Jewish"
or Orthodox, pointing up the
wide variety of responses.
The biggest change
over the last 20 years is
"the phenomenal
population shift" from
New York to Florida.
Fewer Jews keep kosher
than 15 years ago (from
about 28 percent to between
nine and 15 percent today)
but more attend a Seder.
About two-thirds of the
Jewish households report
contributions to Jewish
charities (from a low of 53
percent in Phoenix to a high
of 80 percent in Rochester);
the average annual contribu-
tion is about $100.
Tobin noted that there has
been no national Jewish
population study undertaken
since 1970. He said statistics
regarding intermarriage and
the children of intermarried
couples are too sketchy to
draw conclusions from and
the national Jewish popula-
tion could be anywhere from
5.3 to six million.
"The good news," said
Tobin, "is that there is strong
identity with Israel, a lot of
people have some degree of
observance, some affiliation
and get some form of Jewish
education. The bad news is
that synagogues don't seem
to be able to hold many of the
people they attract, Jewish
education is minimal and the
level of charitable giving is
very small."
"We have to explore what
these numbers mean and find
new glues to hold Jews
together," said Tobin, noting
that Jewish institutions are
"remarkably slow in creating
new glues." He called the role
of the Jewish press "critical"
as a potential "glue."
Democrats Must
Shape Up,
Says Babbitt
Arizona Governor Bruce
Babbitt, acknowledging that
his own Democratic Party is
"desperately in need of
change," told the group of
Jewish editors that the
Democrats must take a firm
stand on issues of moral and
ethical values to counter a
Republican trend toward
"totalitarianism."
Addressing the opening
session of the convention,
Babbitt offered his candid
views on a variety of subjects
from prayer in schools to
Rev. Jesse Jackson, but
focused on "the troubling
Republican tendency towards
totalitarian views on cultural
and ethical values."
He cited as examples a
Republican desire to dictate
school curriculum, mandate
school prayer, lessen religious
pluralism and infringe on the
separation between church
and state.
"The rhetoric is growing
more intense on these
issues," he said, creating a
dilemma for the Democratic
Party. "We've been viewed
as neutral on moral issues
and we must reconcile the
reality of the Bill of Rights
with the need for political
leaders to address cultural
and ethical value issues. It
creates a very real tension,
and ultimately it is the most
difficult issue of all."
Babbitt was outspoken in
his criticism of the
Democratic Party, asserting
that it has turned inward,
moving away from
mainstream American
politics. "It has become a
citadel of orthodoxy and has
become impervious of reali-
ty," he said.
Babbitt is part of a small
but vocal branch of the par-
ty seeking to transfuse it
with mass doses of reality
without damaging its historic
liberal values.
Since Walter Mondale's
defeat in November, Babbitt
has emerged as a major
spokesman for change in his
party, contending that
Democrats must reduce the
influence of organized labor
and special interests and
become more conservative on
Friday, June 14, 1985
economic issues.
"To re-capture our
credibility, we must begin to
re-cast our old, true values in
the context of the current
times," Babbitt said. Chief
among these are the need for
the party to deal with fiscal
responsibility and end the
perception that Democrats
believe all Federal programs
are "sacrosanct."
As a leader of the newly
formed Democratic Leader-
ship Council, Babbitt pro-
poses a universal needs test,
whereby actual need Would
determine Federal spending.
'Does my father need the
same Social Security benefits
as a poor widow living in a
cold water flat? We need the
courage to establish a set of
fiscal priorities."
Speaking of the last elec-
tion, the Governor said that
the Jesse Jackson-Louis Far-
rakhan episode pointed up
the Democrats' weakness in
allowing minority groups to
make demands that "strike
across democratic values and
are inconsistent with our
obligation as a party.
"It's an endemic problem
to the Party; we used to say
`send us your list of
demands.' But we have to be
able to reject demands that
are not party of our values
without being defensive."
Babbitt said he feels cer-
tain that Rev. Jackson will
run again, as will Senators
Kennedy and Hart and
possibly Biden and Bradley.
In closing, the Governor
said that President Reagan's
visit to Bitburg was "a
disgraceful sequence of
events" which pointed out
that the President "has no
sense of history" in equating
the German soldiers and
European Jews as victims of
the Nazis. "The memory of
nations is painfully short," he
said, pointing out the need
for Israel and American Jews
to remind the world of the
tragedy of the Holocaust.
Still 8,000
Ethiopian Jews
To Be Saved
Arizona's Governor Babbitt: a desperate need for change.
There are still 8,000 Jews
left in Ethiopia, and though
we rejoice for the thousands
who were freed this winter
and brought to Israel, those
remaining behind — too
young or too old to escape —
will die if they are not saved.
That was the blunt
message delivered to the
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