Jewish -organization.
Furthermore, the survey found that
congregational membership corresponds
to Jewish engagement. For example, 43
percent of Conservative households that
belong to a congregation light Shabbat
candles, compared to 21 percent among
those that are not synagogue members.
Nonmembers often cite cost as a obsta-
cle to synagogue membership.
• Shifting religious affiliation: Since
the 1991 survey, the percentage of New
York Jews identifying with the
Conservative and Reform movements
has fallen from 34 percent to 26 percent
and from 36 percent to 29 percent,
respectively.
But more respondent s identify as
Orthodox, up from 13 percent to 19
percent, or do not identify with any
Movement, up from 13 percent to 25
percent.
• Shifting geography: The Jewish pop-
ulation has relocated in the past decade.
Westchester County's Jewish community
jumped by 40 percent, while the Bronx
lost 45 percent of its Jewish population.
The Jewish communities of Brooklyn
and Staten Island grew by 23 percent
and 27 percent, respectively.
• Increasing intermarriage: At 22 per-
cent, the intermarriage rate among New
York Jews is about half that for
American Jews as a whole. But even the
New York rate has increased, with 36
percent of New-York Jews marrying
non-Jews in the past five years, corn-
pared to 26 percent in the previous eight
years. Of the 61,000 children of inter-
married households in New York, 30
percent are being raised as Jews.
• Impact of Jewish childhood experi-
ences: In households where the survey
respondent had no Jewish childhood
experiences, only 30 percent belong to a
Jewish congregation. Households in
which the respondent had the highest
degree of Jewish childhood experiences
show a 75 percent rate of synagogue
membership. Jewish experiences - in
childhood are a "very powerful predictor
of what kind of Jew you're going to be
when you grow up," Ukeles said.

_

A Deeper Look

Beyond these findings, the survey mines
information from Jewish engagement
and philanthropic patterns and sheds
light on the most vulnerable elements of
the community, like the elderly and sin-
gle-parent households.
William Rapfogel, executive director
of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish
Poverty, has seen some of the shifts
reflected in the survey taking place
before his eyes.

"Just seven or eight years ago, we were
providing about 400 or 500 families with
kosher food every month. Today, we're
providing 12,000 families with kosher
food every single month," he said.
His group also has exponentially
expanded its affordable housing program
for the elderly and mentally ill. One of
Rapfogel's clients that made it into those
apartments illustrates the day-to-day
crises for impoverished Jews and the
"near poor," who often have less access
to government services than those classi-
fied as poor.
At the opening ceremony for one of
the apartment buildings in Brooklyn, a
new resident — an elderly Russian man
— came over "holding this pair of
awful, awful looking boots," Rapfogel
said.
The man had been wearing the boots
during the eight years he had lived in
New York, and for a decade before that
in the Soviet Union. The man said he
could not afford new shoes because he
barely scraped together what he could
for food and rent for his previous $800-
a-month apartment.
Once he got in to the Brooklyn apart-
ment, "he was able to actually buy a new
pair of shoes," Rapfogel said.
The survey raises awareness that
"Jewish poverty is not an oxymoron," he
said.
"There are a lot of pieces of data in
this that are almost counterintuitive,"
and the community must "get the word
out about what the facts are," Ukeles
said.
"The community needs to take a hard
look at what services are where," he said.
For example, he asked, "Do we have the
services in Staten Island to meet the new
Jewish community?"
Furthermore, it's crucial to integrate
the large Orthodox and Russian-speak-
ing communities into community lead-
ership positions to prevent New York
Jewry from splintering into "a lot of sep-
arated communities," tildes said.
According to John Ruskay, the federa-
tion's executive vice president and CEO,
the survey results are "both a stimulant
to action and rich data for planning
both today and moving forward."
"To give one small example, we
learned that 26,000 seniors aged 75 and
over do not have a relative within 100
miles," Ruskay said. The federation
launched an initiative called
"Companions," which will mobilize vol-
unteers to reach out to these isolated
seniors.
Ultimately, the federation wants to
"make certain that we have opportuni-
ties for Jewish engagement in places of
high Jewish populations,"' he said. ❑

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SHERYL MITCHELL

WEST BLOOMFIELD PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION
for Caring, Conzmitted and Proven Leadership

Hon. Glide 2. Jacobs, Michigan State Senator

Hon. Paul Condino, Michigan State Representative
Hon. David Woodward, Michigan State Representative
Hon. Aldo Vagnozzi, Michigan State Representative
Hon. Eric Coleman, Oakland County Commissioner
Hon. David Coulter, Oakland County Commissioner
Hon. Mike Rogers, Oakland County Commissioner
Hon. Helaine Zack, Oakland County Commissioner -
Hon. David Fleisher, West Bloomfield Supervisor

Guy & Nora Barron
Lori Barron
Claire S. Colman, M.D.
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...and many friends & suppotters

"Sheryl Mitchell has endless dedication to any cause she supports. She is inspiring and provides great
leadership with contagious enthusiasm and energy. I experienced this directly while Shetyl was
President of our West Bloomfield Optimist Club. Sheryl Mitchell is contnzittet4 hard-working and
completely motivated to do what is best in our community. I stand by her WM." Dr. Laurel A. Sills

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