Director's Letter
November 8, 2021
Dear Friends,
During the last several months, we have completed a record number of research projects using a unique approach to study the socio-demographic characteristics of Jewish communities in the United States. I believe that our broadening portfolio of community studies is testament to our methods’ success and am proud of our ability to provide Jewish communities with accurate and actionable data.
We recently completed the study of the Metropolitan Chicago Jewish community in collaboration with NORC at the University of Chicago. The study describes a large and vibrant Jewish community and, at the same time, identifies a diversity of ways of participating in Jewish religious and communal life. The large size of the sample (nearly 6,000 respondents—more than the Pew 2020 study of Jewish Americans) allows us to look at smaller groups within the community (e.g., Orthodox Jews, financially struggling households). This is our largest and methodologically most sophisticated community project to date, and the rich data resulted in more than a dozen presentations to a variety of stakeholder groups.
Other community studies currently in our portfolio include those of Greater Metrowest NJ, Orlando, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Delaware, and Portland, OR. Our collection of studies is now large enough to allow us to apply our data synthesis techniques and derive findings from across communities. Not only will this allow us to create a more detailed understanding of the national Jewish landscape, but it will also enable us to examine the characteristics, attitudes, and behaviors of distinctive Jewish ethnic and religious sub-groups.
On another research front, we continue to study young adults and their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our latest project used the pandemic as a “natural experiment” to research the impact of broad-based online education. During the 2021 academic year, we conducted a set of surveys of undergraduate students at three private universities in the Northeast: Some of these students had all or most of their classes in person, while others met mostly or exclusively online. We found that students who had even a single in-person class every week had higher overall satisfaction with their instruction, and those who had more frequent in-person classes were more likely to feel like they “belonged” at their school. Going forward, schools will have to balance the flexibility afforded by online instruction with the disadvantages it presents for fostering a cohesive campus community.
As always, let me know if you have questions or comments about our work. Best wishes for the new month of Kislev – a time of shorter days, but hopefully one of safety and health for you and your families.
Yours, 
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