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Connections with Israel	-Download NJPS Report PDF -Download PowerPoint Summary
Many close observers of American Jewry sense that Jewish engagement with Israel declined in the past twenty to thirty years after a period of high mobilization in the late 1960s and 1970s.

Possibly reversing these trends, the tragic events of 2001-03 in Israel may have galvanized at least a portion of the American Jewish population behind Israel. However, because those events occurred largely after interviewing for NJPS was completed, the study cannot assess the most recent levels of attachment to Israel.

Nonetheless, NJPS contains valuable information about American Jews' connections with Israel. Key indicators of Israel engagement -- such as the cumulative number of American Jews who have traveled to the Jewish state, as well as family and friendship ties in Israel -- are not particularly sensitive to the events of the last few years and are therefore reasonably current. Moreover, while levels of emotional attachment and feelings of common destiny with Israel may have increased after 2001, their correlates should be more constant over time. Thus, examining who was more attached to Israel in 2000-01 provides important insights into the American Jewish population.

With this said, just over one-third of all American Jewish adults have been to Israel (35%), and 20% have been there at least two times.* Nearly half (45%) report having family or close friends in Israel.* In terms of attitudinal connections, almost two-thirds (63%) of American Jews say they are emotionally attached to Israel and nearly three-quarters (72%) say U.S. and Israeli Jews share a common destiny,* consistent with years of surveys demonstrating broad engagement with Israel among American Jews.

Ties to Israel vary by region, Jewish affiliation, and age (see Table 11). Jews in the Northeast lead other Jews in most but not all connections to the Jewish state, while Jews in the West trail other Jews in emotional attachments and feelings of common destiny with Israel. The institutionally affiliated are uniformly more connected to Israel than the unaffiliated.

Among Jews between the crucial ages of 35-64, older Jews express stronger emotional ties to Israel. Importantly, though, age is not related to travel to Israel, having family or friends there, or feelings of common destiny with Israeli Jews. In other words, proportionally as many Jews age 35-44 as those age 55-64 have gone to Israel, maintain social networks there, and believe in the common fate of American and Israeli Jews, suggesting stability and strength over time in many types of connections to the Jewish state. With many years ahead of them, younger age groups may well surpass older adults in the proportion who have ever been to Israel.

Connections with Israel are mutually reinforcing. Visiting Israel and having family and close friends there are each positively associated with feeling emotionally attached to and believing in a shared destiny with Israel. These findings underscore the important relationship between social connections to Israel -- travel and knowing people there -- and feelings of attachment and commonality with the Jewish state and its citizens.

Lastly, the communal system has increasingly promoted travel to Israel among adolescents and young adults to initiate and strengthen the connection between young American Jews and the Jewish state. NJPS data reveal that more than a fifth (21%) of Jewish children age 6-17 have been to Israel,* including 13% who have been there multiple times.* Among these travelers who are age 13-17, a third visited Israel with an organized Jewish group such as a synagogue, youth group or federation.*

*Topics with asterisks refer to respondents who answered the survey's long form, representing a population of 4.3 million Jewish adults and children.

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