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Introduction

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American Jews possess many strengths, face important challenges, and exhibit notable diversity. They maintain frequent points of involvement in Jewish religious and ethnic group life, but many are disengaged from the Jewish community. As a group, American Jews have relatively high educational levels and socio-economic status, but significant pockets of poverty and social service needs also exist within the population. Intermarriage, delayed marriage and low fertility rates constitute challenges to Jewish continuity. The diversity across these areas -- religious, cultural, social, communal and demographic -- is truly striking, making simple, global characterizations difficult to reach. The American Jewish landscape, while full of common themes, is also marked by systematic variation.

This portrait of American Jews emerges from the National Jewish Population Survey (NJPS) 2000-01, a representative survey of the Jewish population in the United States sponsored by United Jewish Communities and the Jewish federation system. This report presents findings on several demographic topics; Jewish connections and engagement; intermarriage; and three special topics, the elderly, immigrants and those living below the poverty line. In coming months, UJC will issue a series of specialized reports on these and other topics, such as synagogue affiliation and denominations, Jewish practice, philanthropy and volunteerism, Jewish college students, marriage and families, and regional differences among Jews.

This report and other documents associated with NJPS 2000-01 are available on the UJC website, www.ujc.org/njps. The NJPS electronic data files and full study documentation are available through the North American Jewish Data Bank, a joint project of United Jewish Communities and Brandeis University. For further information on obtaining the data files and documentation, visit the Data Bank website, www.jewishdatabank.org, or e-mail the Data Bank at info@jewishdatabank.org.

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