Just Can't
Say NO
tion. Horowitz, the director of the 1992 report, objected to how
the newer study tracked down Jews, among other issues. While
she asked people in random calls what their religious affiliation
was, the new study asked a more direct question: "Do you con-
sider yourself to be Jewish or non-Jewish?" That could dissuade
some marginal Jews from answering truthfully, she said.
Shortly after the panel first convened in 2001, Andrew
Beveridge, a sociology professor at Queens College of the
City University of New York, also quit the study s advisory
panel over the methodology dispute. Beveridge said he felt
the report was based on some "a priori assumptions," since
the survey relied partly on lists of Jews provided by Jewish
groups in addition to reaching Jews through random calls.
"We really don't know how many Jews there are in New
York," he said.
'
Methodology
But Ukeles said he was "at peace" with the study. The study
was based on 4,553 telephone interviews with 6,035 Jewish
households identified both through randomly generated calls
and from lists of Jewish organizations and synagogues. The
surveys were taken between March and September of 2002.
Ukeles used similar methods when he was co-author,
with sociologist Dr. Steven Cohen, of Detroit's 1989 Jewish
population study. That study found that there were 96,000
Jews in the Detroit metropolitan area.
The study carries a margin of error for various sections
from plus or minus 1.8 percent to 2.7 percent. A decade
ago, the preceding study relied largely on random calls. This
year's study relied partly on 1,263 names from lists of Jews
provided by the UJA-Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of
New York and the local Jewish Community Relations
Council, Ukeles said. But Ukeles said all the calls were
based on 32 statistical subsamples built from the incidence
of Jewish names in eight New York telephone county
exchanges, ensuring a "truer sample" overall.
He added that the same statistician, Dale Kulp, carried
out both New York studies, adding to their credibility.
"We're not talking about perfection. We're talking about
this as a reasonable representation of the Jewish population
of New York," Ukeles said. I -1
Israel Insititt
THE ISSUE
Questions have been raised about the specific
targeting of Hamas leadership by the Israel
Defense Forces, as opposed to terrorists in
Islamic Jihad, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades
and other groups.
BEND 'MEM ISSUE
Hamas is an abbreviation for three Arabic
words that mean Islamic Resistance Movement.
More than a terrorist group, it has political,
social, welfare and educational arms, all dedi-
cated to rejecting peace with Israelis and Israel's
right to exist. It is much larger than the other
groups, seeks to lead the Palestinian people,
and so is the main challenge to moderates in
the Palestinian Authority.
— Allan Gale, Jewish Communi t y Council
of Metropolitan Detroit
New York Stats
The Jewish Community Study
of New York found:
• The number of Jewish households — defined as those
with at least one self-identified Jewish adult — fell 6 per-
cent to 455,000 in New York City and its boroughs,
accounting for 71 percent of all New York-area Jewish s.
households.
• The number of Jewish households rose by 24 per-
cent, to 188,000, in Long Island's Nassau and Suffolk
counties and in Westchester County. In those areas, the
number of Jewish people rose 12 percent, to 440,000.
Jim Zack has an addiction. He got
hooked on something 15 years ago
that changed his life forever and
changes the lives of many every day.
That addiction is JARC. Shortly after
joining the board in 1988, Zack was
touched so profoundly by the work
JARC does and by the quality of that
work, he realized he could never leave.
So, after serving as an officer, chairing
the fundraiser, and being JARC's
president for the past three years, he
still needs his fix.
• Only two city boroughs saw major Jewish growth
during the decade. The Jewish population of Brooklyn
jumped 23 percent, to 456,000, making it second in size
nationally only to Los Angeles, while Staten Island
jumped 27 percent, to 42,000, the smallest Jewish popu-
lation in the eight boroughs and counties surveyed.
• Manhattan has 243,000 Jews in 155,000 households,
down 5 percent in a decade.
• Among New York Jews, 22 percent are age 18 or
under, and 20 percent are 65 or older. Of the elderly, 11
percent are age 75 or above.
• The majority of New York's Jews, 73 percent, were
born in the United States, with 54 percent born in New
York City. Of non-natives, 31,000 were born in Israel.
• There are 92,000 households with 202,000 Russian-
speaking Jews, 94 percent of which are in the boroughs
of Brooklyn, Staten. Island and Queens. Of these homes,
76,000 include an adult born in the former Soviet
Union, while the remainder hail from Eastern Europe.
• Nineteen percent of the area's Jews identify as
Orthodox, a sharp rise from 13 percent in the 1992 study.
• Most Orthodox Jews, 37 percent, reside in Brooklyn,
followed by the Bronx and Queens with 20 percent each,
and Manhattan and Nassau County with 11 percent each.
• The percentage of Reform Jews in the population fell
from 36 percent to 29 percent, while Conservative Jews
dropped from 34 percent to 26 percent.
• Synagogue affiliation remained comparable to figures
nationally, at 43 percent, up from 38 percent a decade
ago. Synagogue membership is highest in Nassau and
Westchester counties, at 56 and 51 percent respectively.
It is 47 percent in Brooklyn, and down to 33 percent in
Staten Island and 30 percent in Manhattan.
The rise of Orthodoxy was "enormous," said Ira
Sheskin, a University of Miami demographer who has
compared Jewish community studies in a book, How
Iewish Communities Differ, 'If affiliation rates are accu-
rate, Sheskin said, it would mean that New York Jews are
above-average synagogue-goers, as membership rates in
other cities range from 20 percent in places such as
Seattle to as high as 50 percent elsewhere. But Sheskin
cautioned that synagogue membership should be verified
with individual institutions. Other studies had shown dis-
crepancies between synagogue membership lists and what
people claim, he said.
—JTA
H. James Zack, immediate past president
and chair of JARC's Capital Campaign
As Dan Gilbert took the presidential
helm at JARC last week, Zack
embarked on a voyage to continue
feeding his habit. As chairperson of
JARC's first Capital Campaign, he's
captain of an 18-month project
forecast to raise $4 million to purchase
the Paul and Lois Katzman
Administration Building in Farmington
Hills. After helping JARC navigate
through the rough waters following
recent drastic cuts in public funding,
he's fit to weather any storm at sea.
Plus, there's that addiction thing.
He'd like you to get hooked, too. Come
volunteer at the beautiful office or one
of JARC's 20 remarkable homes. Come
to a JARC fundraiser. You'll be
impressed; you'll be touched; you may
even get hooked. JARC is a magical
place that some can never leave.
Won't you be part of the magic?
On September 23, Zack will
formerly launch the Capital
Campaign at the celebration of
Joyce Keller's 25 years with JARC.
SAVE THE DATE!
jam:
For 34 years, helping
people with disabilities
be fully included in
community life
30301 Northwestern Highway
Suite 100
Farmington Hills, MI 48334
248.538.6611 • Fax 248.538.6615
www.jarc.org
tb,
6/20
2003
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