Director's Letter
November 30, 2020 
Dear Friends,
The pandemic has disrupted nearly every aspect of Jewish life, leaving its mark on everything from how we celebrate to the way we mourn. Our synagogues, schools, camps, and youth programs continue to grapple with how to deliver programs and services in this unprecedented environment. Among the programmatic casualties this year is the Birthright Israel program, having had three quarters of a million young adults from all over the world participate in its Israel trips since its inception 20 years ago. Our just released sixth wave of our Jewish Futures Project (JFP) provides compelling evidence that Birthright Israel continues to influence the lives of its alumni a decade or more after they participated in the trip.
Most members of our JFP panel are now married and many have children. It is now possible to assess the impact of the program on these panelists at a much different life stage than that of our first study. What has remained constant, however, is Birthright alumni’s higher likelihood of engagement in Jewish life compared to their nonparticipant peers. That there continues to be such strong evidence of the program’s ongoing impact underscores the importance of resuming the trips once the pandemic has attenuated and participants’ safety can be assured.
In the meantime, we will continue to study the impact of COVID-19 on American Jews, and how the temporary loss of this program and others like it have affected the Jewish community. One upcoming report focuses in particular on the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of Jewish young adults.
We are also pleased to announce a series of reports about the Jewish electorate from our American Jewish Population Project. For the first time, we can share reliable estimates of the size and characteristics of Jewish adults by congressional district. Several reports focus specifically on 2020 battleground states, and one report looks at the political leanings and characteristics of Independents. We plan to release new national, state, and county demographic estimates of the Jewish population next month.
With the prospect of a safe and effective vaccine on the horizon, the lights of Hanukkah will shine a little brighter. From all of us at CMJS, best wishes for a safe and peaceful holiday.
Best,
Leonard Saxe, PhD
Klutznick Professor of Contemporary Jewish Studies and Social Policy
Director, Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies and Steinhardt Social Research Institute at Brandeis University