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and that’s not to be taken for granted,” she said,
noting that the data was largely collected before the
pandemic, so it represents a snapshot of early 2020
more so than spring 2021.

Lindsay Weicher, manager of data analytics for
the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, has
worked on the organization’s “Community Portrait:
A 2019 Jewish Population Study” from its inception
– and continues to analyze the data. She saw a lot of
similarities in the reports.

“Overall, a lot of the trends we saw nationally are
what we’re seeing local,” she said. “That was validat-
ing for us to hear.”
Intermarriage rates in 2020 are similar to those in
2013, Cooperman said, showing “some stability there
that some people may not have expected.” While it
appears that over the long-term intermarriage rates
have risen, there is no evidence in the survey “of any
additional rise between 2013 and 2020,” he said. But,
“absence of evidence is not necessarily the same thing
as evidence of absence. So these are estimates.”
There is almost no intermarriage in the Orthodox
community, according to the survey, which found
only 2% of Orthodox Jews had a non-Jewish spouse.

Among all Jewish respondents married in the last
10 years, 60% said they have a non-Jewish spouse,
while just 18% of Jews married before 1980 have a
non-Jewish spouse.

Weicher said the interfaith marriage rates are a bit
higher locally than nationally.

Although intermarriage rates have risen dramat-
ically since 1980, Jews under 50 with just one Jewish
parent are more likely to describe themselves as
Jewish than those over 50 with just one Jewish parent.

“In other words, it appears that the offspring
of intermarriages have become increasingly likely
to identify as Jewish in adulthood,” according to
he Pew report.

Still, children with two Jewish parents are over-
whelmingly more likely to be raised Jewish than
those of intermarriage. “Intermarried Jews who are
currently raising minor children (under 18) in their
homes are much less likely to say they are bringing
up their children as Jewish by religion (28%) than
are Jewish parents who have a Jewish spouse (93%),
although many of the intermarried Jews say they are
raising their children as partly Jewish by religion or
as Jewish aside from religion,” the report states.

Married Jews with one Jewish parent are inter-
married at the rate of 82% compared with 34% of
those with two Jewish parents. And more Jews say
it is important for their future grandchildren to
share their political convictions and to carry on their
family name than to marry someone who is Jewish
(64% to 44%).

Interracial and ethnic intermarriage is rising,



according to the report. Twenty-one percent of Jews
married between 2010 and 2020 say their spouse has
a different race or ethnicity. Among Jews married
before 2010, just 1 in 10 or fewer Jews said they had a
spouse of a different race or ethnicity.

Pew added a question in its 2020 survey about
participation in Chabad activities after “taking heat”
for not including a separate question about Chabad
in 2013, said Cooperman.

The study found that 16% of Jewish adults in
America often or sometimes participate in Chabad
programs or services. Of those, 24% are Orthodox,
26% are Conservative, 27% are Reform and 16% are
not affiliated with any particular branch.

“Overall, a lot of the trends
we saw nationally are what
we’re seeing local,
That was validating for
us to hear.”
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Other findings in the survey include the polit-
ical divergence of the American-Jewish popula-
tion. While 71% of Jews are Democrats or lean
Democrat, 75% of Orthodox Jews are Republican or
lean Republican.

Almost all Jews (90%) say there’s at least some
antisemitism in the U.S., with one third saying they
have experienced antisemitic remarks in their presence.

The depth Pew was able to go in exploring
antisemitism was valuable, Weicher said. The local
report had limitations in questions asked because of
sheer length.

“There were some areas they were able to dive a
little deeper and get a little more nuance,” she said,
adding that the ongoing pandemic impacts will
require additional socio-economic research long
after the pandemic itself is over.

All in all, the survey offers a good benchmark
1,000-foot view to compare to local data, she said.

“We can go back to local data and re-evaluate
what we’re seeing based on this new research,”
Weicher said. l
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Toby Tabachnick is the editor of the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle.

THE GUIDE 2021/2022
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