Seattle Begins Its First Jewish Survey

The first thorough study of the Seattle Jewish community ever to be undertaken will be launched this week by a staff of four field workers under Joseph Cohen, University of Washington sociology instructor, now on leave, who is serving as director of research and statistics on the State Civil Works Administration.

The survey is made possible by the federal government as part of the Civil Works program, Mr. Cohen said. His staff includes Mrs. Rebecca Waxman, Mayer Mottel-son, Helen Bastheim and Rose Cohen.

“We are undertaking this survey in the spirit of scientific research,” Mr. Cohen explained. “Ours is a purely objective attitude. We have no axe to grind and we are not working in the interest of any organizations or personalities, but rather the entire community.

“Any personal material will be treated in the utmost confidence, but the general results of our study will be made available for organizations as a basis for their own programs and for communal activity.”

One of the first steps in the study will be a census of the Seattle Jewish population, a project long advocated by communal leaders. Matters to be considered, Mr. Cohen said, include a study of organizations in the community and the part they play in the realization of the interest of the Jew; the part the Jew plays in the larger community; the Jew’s economic status and how he has been affected by general economic conditions; how he functions in American life; and how many Jews are reached by social, benevolent, educational and religious organizations.

“Results of such a study,” Mr. Cohen pointed out, “will serve as an answer to anti-Semitism, for only if the facts are known and are generally available can the Jew combat the charges that from time to time are being leveled against him,” he said.

The survey will be the first of its kind ever undertaken in an American Jewish community, Mr. Cohen said.