local
Weicher and Jewish Federation
Senior Director of Security Frank Riehl
don’t think this issue should dissuade
Jews from living in the city. But they
did say that Jews who choose to live in
Philadelphia should stay alert.

Riehl advised Jewish residents to
avoid looking down at their phones
“I’m sure it’s one of many factors that
goes into deciding where to raise young
families,” Weicher said of gun violence.

But while young families may trend
toward the suburbs at a certain age,
they also may live anywhere within
city limits, alongside other Jews. Jewish
Federation realized that when it com-
“I wouldn’t be surprised if these
households were to say, we’re
choosing to live in Center City
because it’s safer.”
LINDSAY WEICHER
while walking through the city.

Weicher said to “remain vigilant to
mitigate the impact it may have on your
household or your community or your
circle of contacts.”
She mentioned that households with
older children, roughly 12 and up, tend to
move out to the suburban counties, though
that was already a trend before 2020.

pleted its last population study, which
shows that Jews live throughout the
city. Instead of just cold-calling house-
holds, it mailed surveys to addresses.

And instead of just asking people if
they were Jewish, it asked if they were
Jewish by religion, ethnicity, culture
and/or heritage.

The new methodology helped Jewish
Federation reach people who didn’t use
landlines and count the types of Jews it
never counted in the past.

“It’s not just, ‘Are you Jewish and
affiliated by denomination?’” Weicher
said. “That would exclude households.”
In broadening the definition of the
Jewish population, Jewish Federation
figured out that Jews live in all regions
of the city. The old “all Jews live in
Center City or the Northeast” stereo-
type simply does not apply. Therefore,
any city issue is necessarily a Jewish
issue. “It was an opportunity to reevaluate
our perception of what the community
looks like,” Weicher concluded. JE
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