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Socio-demography of American Jewry

Oct. 23-24, 2011
Brandeis University

In 2003, Brandeis University co-hosted a conference for researchers and policymakers on NJPS 2000-1, and we wrestled with how best to interpret and use the data from the decennial survey of American Jews. Although there is no longer a national study of American Jews sponsored by the Jewish community, the past decade has witnessed the growth of alternative approaches to understanding the U.S. Jewish population. To assess current understandings of the socio-demography of American Jewry, Brandeis again hosted a conference of research scholars and policy makers to take stock of current knowledge, consider future research, and engage producers of research and policy makers in conversation about the usefulness of the information being generated.

The conference was hosted in collaboration with key academic and policy centers concerned with the study of American Jewry. The Mandell L. and Madeleine H. Berman Foundation provided generous support for the conference, along with several other foundations. Presenters and discussants include both those who specialize in research on the American Jewish community, as well as researchers who are interested more broadly in religion and culture. In addition, representatives of Jewish philanthropic and communal organizations, along with journalists, were invited.

The specific goals of the conference were to assess the current state of knowledge about the size and characteristics of the American Jewish community, illuminate current socio-demographic research, and consider how the findings of demographic research can be used by scholars, funders, and policy organizations concerned with the Jewish community. One outcome was a scholarly publication summarizing current research and application. But, more importantly, the conference aspired to foster better informed dialogue about American Jewry and enhanced development and use of socio-demographic research.

Speakers and Participants

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Participants

Mandell (Bill) L. Berman, Mandell L. and Madeleine H. Berman Foundation (Participant)

Michael Bohnen, Adelson Family Foundation (Participant)

Matthew Boxer, Research Associate, Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies and the Steinhardt Social Research Institute at Brandeis University (Presenter)

Sanford Cardin, President of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation (Presenter)

Steven M. Cohen, Research Professor of Jewish Social Policy, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and Director, Berman Jewish Policy Archive at NYU Wagner (Presenter)

Yinon Cohen, Yosef H. Yerushalmi Professor of Israel and Jewish Studies, Columbia University (Presenter)

Alan Cooperman, Associate Director for Research, Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life (Presenter)

Arnold Dashefsky, Director, North American Jewish Data Bank; Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life, University of Connecticut (Presenter)

Sergio DellaPergola, Chairman, The Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry (ICJ), The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Presenter)

David Dutwin, Vice President of Social Science Research Solutions (SSRS) (Presenter)

Michael J. Feuer, Dean, The Graduate School of Education and Human Development, George Washington University (Moderator)

Sylvia Barack Fishman, Department Chair of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and the Professor of contemporary Jewish life, co-director of the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute and a faculty affiliate at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, Brandeis University (Moderator)

Rachel Friedberg, Senior Lecturer, Deparment of Economics, Brown University (Participant)

David Gedzelman, Rabbi, Executive Vice President of The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life

Lyn Light Geller, Executive Director of Educational Resources, UJA-Federation of NY (Participant)

Steven J. Gold, Professor and Graduate Program Director, Department of Sociology at Michigan State University (Moderator)

Alice Goldstein, Senior Researcher (Emerita) at the Population Studies and Training Center, Brown University (Participant)

Sidney Goldstein, George H. Crooker University Professor (Emeritus), Professor of Population Studies and Sociology (Research), Brown University (Presenter)

Harriet Hartman, Professor of Sociology, Rowan University; President, Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry (Moderator) (Presenter)

Samuel Heilman, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Holder of the Harold Proshansky Chair in Jewish Studies, Queens College of the City University of New York (Presenter)

Bethamie Horowitz, Research Professor, Education and Jewish Studies, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University (Presenter)

Leora Isaacs, Founding Director, Berman Center for Research and Evaluation in Jewish Education and the Learnings and Consultation Center (LCC) at JESNA (Participant)

Charles Kadushin, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the Graduate Center, CUNY; Distinguished Scholar, Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, Brandeis University (Presenter)

Debra Kaufman, Professor of Sociology, Director of Women’s Studies, and Matthews Distinguished University Professor, Northeastern University (Presenter)

Ariela Keysar, Associate Director at the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society; Associate Research Professor, Public Policy & Law Program, Trinity College (Presenter)

Barry Kosmin, Director of the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture; Professor in the Public Policy & Law Program, Trinity College (Presenter)

Frederick M. Lawrence, President; Professor of Politics, Brandeis University (Presenter)

Jon A. Levisohn, Assistant Professor of Jewish Education; Assistant Academic Director, Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education, Brandeis University (Participant)

Laurence Kotler-Berkowitz, Director of Research and Analysis, The Jewish Federations of North America (Presenter)

Michal Kravel-Tovi, University of Michigan, Frankel Center for Judaic Studies (Participant)

Arielle Levites, Doctoral student, Education and Jewish Studies at NYU (Participant)

Judit Bokser Liwerant, Professor of Political Science, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM); Director of the Graduate School of Political and Social Sciences (Presenter)

David Mersky, Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program at Brandeis University; Managing Director of Mersky, Jaffe & Associates, Inc. (Participant)

Ron Miller, Associate Director of the North American Jewish Data Bank, University of Connecticut (Participant)

Daniel Parmer, Graduate Research Associate at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies and the Steinhardt Social Research Institute, Brandeis University (Presenter)

Benjamin Phillips, Senior Analyst/Project Director, Abt SRBI (Presenter)

Bruce Phillips, Professor of Jewish Communal Service in the School of Jewish Communal Service, HUC-JIR/Los Angeles (Presenter)

David Pollock, Associate Executive Director, Jewish Community Relations Council of NY (Participant)

Gil Preuss, Vice President of Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston (Moderator)

Eetta Prince-Gibson, Editor-in-Chief, The Jerusalem Report (Presenter)

Uzi Rebhun, Associate Professor of Jewish Demography and Statistics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Presenter)

Joe Reimer, Associate Professor of Jewish Education in the Education Program and the Hornstein Program for Jewish Professional Leadership, Brandeis University (Participant)

David Resnick, Director Israel Office, JESNA (Participant)

Jennifer Rosenberg, Director of Research, UJA-Federation of New York (Participant)

Gary Rosenblatt, Editor and Publisher, The Jewish Week (Presenter)

Shmuel Rosner, Fellow, Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI); Columnist, Jerusalem Post (Presenter)

Amy L. Sales, Associate Director, Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies and Director of Fisher-Bernstein Institute, Brandeis University; Project Director JData.com (Presenter)

Jonathan D. Sarna, Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, Brandeis University (Moderator)

Theodore Sasson, Steinhardt Social Research Institute/Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, Brandeis University (Participant)

Leonard Saxe, Klutznick Professor of Jewish Community Research and Social Policy at Brandeis University, Director of Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies and the Steinhardt Social Research Institute, Brandeis University (Chair) (Presenter)

Michelle Shain, Steinhardt Social Research Institute/Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, Brandeis University (Participant)

Ira Sheskin, Professor of Geography and Director of the Jewish Demography Project of the Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Jewish Studies, University of Miami (Presenter)

Jason Skolnick, President of www.1purpose.com (Participant)

Sarai Brachman Shoup, Director, Mandell L. and Madeleine H. Berman Foundation (Moderator)

Barry Shrage, President, Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston (Presenter)

Ellen Smith, Director, Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program at Brandeis University (Participant)

Greg Smith, Senior Researcher, The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life (Presenter)

David B. Starr, Rabbi, Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, Brandeis University (Participant)

Elizabeth Tighe, Steinhardt Social Research Institute/Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, Brandeis University (Participant)

Ilan Troen, Stoll Family Chair in Israel Studies and Director of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies (Participant)

Philip Wexler, Charles R. Bronfman Visiting Professor in Jewish Communal Innovation 2011-12, Brandeis University (Participant)

Christopher Winship, Diker-Tishman Professor of Sociology; Faculty, Harvard Kennedy School of Government (Participant)

Aviva Zeltzer-Zubida, Director of Research, Evaluation & Measurement, in Strategy & Planning Unit, Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) (Presenter)

Co-Sponsors

Conference Co-Sponsors

Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Association for the Scientific Study of Jewry
Berman Jewish Policy Archive @ NYU Wagner
Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture, Trinity College
Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life
North American Jewish Data Bank, University of Connecticut
Steinhardt Social Research Institute and Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, Brandeis University

Additional Supporters

Mandell L. and Madeleine H. Berman Foundation
The Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies
Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation
The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life
JData.com/Jim Joseph Foundation
The AVI CHAI Foundation
Jason Skolnick