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Religious Identity
Continued from preceding page
ish values," the survey also
found that American Jews
have retained what were
termed "historical American
Jewish values."
For example, political lib-
eralism — long a hallmark
of American Jews —remains
strong. Forty-five percent of
all American Jews still
define themselves as liberal
or very liberal, compared to
20 percent who say they are
conservative or very conser-
vative (30 percent called
themselves middle-of-the-
road.)
And American Jews con-
tinue to place a premium on
higher education. According
to the survey, more than 50
percent of all Jewish men
are college graduates, com-
pared to 24 percent of the
male population as a whole.
About 45 percent of all
Jewish women are also col-
lege graduates, compared to
just 17 percent of the general
female population.
There also exists what the
survey termed "a surprising
level of residual behavior,"
such as attending Passover
seders or even fasting on
Yom Kippur, among the 1.3
million Americans who were
raised as Jews but have
since converted to another
faith or who were raised in
Comparing Detroit
To The United States
ALAN HITSKY
Associate Editor
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another faith even though at
least one parent was born
Jewish.
Mr. Kosmin said concern
for the State of Israel and
the lingering emotional im-
pact of the Holocaust are, in
large measure, responsible
for this residual Jewish
practice.
"Israel comes out quite
well if ethnicity is in," he
said.
It also lends support to
Reconstructionist movement
claims that the majority of
American Jews hold what
Mr. Kosmin called "a
Reconstructionist view of
the world," even though few
(2 percent) openly identify
with the movement.
(Reconstructionism, which
grew out of the philosophy of
the late Conservative Rabbi
Mordecai Kaplan, rejects
God as a supernatural force
and views Judaism as an
evolving religious civiliza-
tion with its own unique cul-
ture and national aspira-
tions invested in Israel.)
The survey also showed
that 90 percent of those who
are currently Orthodox were
raised as such, "thus in-
dicating any movement
toward Orthodoxy (the ba'al
t'shuvah movement) is
relatively small." ❑
here are major differ-
ences between the fin-
dings of the National
Jewish Population Study
and Detroit's 1989 study of
the local Jewish community.
The national study is bas-
ed on 2,400 interviews.
Detroit's study, funded by
the Jewish Welfare Federa-
tion, covered 1,100 inter-
views.
Because Detroit's study
was done in the fall, college
students are underrepre-
sented, leaving the impres-
sion that fewer Jews age
18-26 live in metropolitan
Detroit than in other areas of
the country.
In the core Jewish area of
Detroit — 12 suburbs in
southeast Oakland County
— 92 percent of the Jews
were born Jewish, as com-
pared to 81 percent in the
national study. Of the per-
sons living in Jewish
households in Detroit, 3 per-
cent said they converted to
Judaism, 1 percent said they
are Jewish but observed no
religion, less than 1 percent
said they were born Jewish
but are now gentile, and 4
percent said they are gen-
tile.
Detroit's Jewish commun-
ity is more settled than the
rest of the nation. The
stereotypical nuclear family
— two parents with children
— represents 17 percent of
Jewish families nationwide
but 35 percent of Detroit's
Jewish community. Analy-
sts believe the Detroit com-
munity is more stable be-
cause of the higher percen-
tage of families and a higher
homeowner rate.
Nearly half of the Jews na-
tionally have moved in the
last six years, compared to
36 percent of Detroit's Jews.
The national study says 25
percent of the Jews have
moved from the Midwest,
but the local study shows
that Detroit has gained as
many Jews as it has lost.
Detroit has a much higher
median Jewish income
($62,000) than the national
Jewish median ($39,000).
Detroit has more than 10
percent (42,600) of all the
Jewish households in the
Midwest (403,000). ❑