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Israel Link
For Teens
Begins At Home
New York/JTA
ewish teens follow their parents'
lead when it comes to develop-
ing a connection to Israel,
according to a new survey
The "most effective policy" in
instilling teenagers' connection to
Israel is "family education at home,"
according to Barry Kosmin, whose
Institute for Jewish Policy Research in
London recently surveyed
Conservative teenagers and their par-
ents in North America.
Nearly three-quarters of the parents
in the study discuss Israel or current
events in the Middle East with their
children. Sixty-three percent of the
teenagers surveyed who discuss the
Middle East with their parents consid-
er Israel "very important" to them
compared with 35 percent of those
whose parents do not.
"We talk so much about money for
formal Jewish education and how for-
mal education is a key to Judaism,"
but in this survey, the results are "just
as much about what you do around
the dinner table," said Winston
Pickett, director of media relations at
the institute.
Kosmin said the study showed a
stronger level of commitment to Israel
from parents and children than expected.
The survey was part of a larger
study of North American Conservative
Jews, set up by the movement's Jewish
Theological Seminary, that was based
on a telephone survey of 1,412 chil-
dren and parents from 115
Conservative synagogues throughout
the United States and Canada.
Authored by Kosmin and Ariela
Keysar of the City University of New
York, the report found that bar and
bat mitzvah students from the
Conservative movement identified
with Israel more than American Jews
in general. Eighty-one percent said
they \ vould like to visit Israel with a
teen-age group, 75 percent were inter-
ested in speaking conversational
Hebrew and more than half said that
Israel was "very important to them."
Other survey findings include the
fact that girls have a consistently
stronger pattern of Jewish identity and
stronger commitment than boys and
that the commitment cuts across most
religions and age groups. "Girls are kind
of holding the torch," Keysar said.
j
8/6
1999
N
16 Detroit Jewish News