CMJS Combined Dataset
The Combined Dataset (CDS) combines data from 25 socio-demographic studies of federated Jewish communities, conducted between 2015-2023 by the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies (CMJS) at Brandeis University. This CDS includes survey responses from more than 53,000 respondents including information about demographics and household composition; Jewish identity, behaviors, and attitudes; and financial and social service needs.
It is important to note that the CDS is not drawn from a random sample of communities, but from the ones that conducted a community study with CMJS in the past 10 years. Consequently, the population described by this dataset does not represent the entire US Jewish community, but only the Jewish population in these communities. Nonetheless, the characteristics of the combined dataset align closely with estimates of the US Jewish population as a whole. The study includes small, medium, and large communities from all US regions.
Related Publications
February 26, 2025
Book Chapter
Aronson, J.K., Brookner, M.A., Boxer, M., Nussbaum, D., de Kramer, R.M., Saxe, L. (2024). Using Denominational Identity to Understand Jewish Engagement. In: Dashefsky, A., Sheskin, I.M. (eds) American Jewish Year Book 2023. American Jewish Year Book, vol 123. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-67478-5_2
This chapter acknowledges the complexity of denominational identity and provides a data-informed assessment of the degree to which denominational identification continues to be a useful construct to understand the American Jewish experience since 1990. The review is based on reanalysis of national studies and of 25 local Jewish community studies conducted since 2015 by the authors and colleagues at Brandeis University and our research partners.
May 20, 2024
Report
Starting in 2020, The Weinberg Foundation has provided financial support to Federations to collect a standard set of financial related information as part of their community studies. The purpose of standardizing these measures is to facilitate the development of aggregated data across participating communities as well as to support comparisons across individual communities. By aggregating data, we can also analyze small groups (such as households experiencing poverty) in cases for which there are insufficient responses in individual studies to support detailed analysis.
The current report presents an analysis of the aggregated data that have been collected as part of this effort. This report includes data from 10 completed community studies that collected information as part of the Weinberg grant along with data from two additional community studies that included the Weinberg questions but did not receive the grant.
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