Jewish Communal Involvement Runs Wide but Shallow, New Study Shows

Substantial numbers of American Jews affiliate with communal organizations, both Jewish and non-sectarian, but their level of commitment is not very deep, a new study by the American Jewish Committee reveals.

While 70 percent of the survey’s 1,114 respondents are affiliated with the Jewish community in some way, the majority do no volunteer work, attend no meetings and contribute little financially.

“This, then, is the reality of affiliation with which Jewish organizations and Jewish leadership must grapple,” Drs. Renae Cohen and Sherry Rosen wrote in the study, entitled “Organizational Affilation of American Jews: A Research Report.”

That reality is “a potential membership pool that ‘believes in’ Jewish organizations, gives to them of their time and money at relatively modest levels and prefers the organizations to adhere to an unchanged agenda that emphasizes fighting anti-Semitism, supporting Israel and preserving Jewish identity,” the authors wrote.

“There do not appear to be large numbers of Jews here who are willing to participate with greater expenditures of time and money or who care enough to re-evaluate current organizational structures and agendas,” they conclude.

But what deserves emphasis, Rosen said in an interview, is the fact that 31 percent of respondents said that they have less involvement in Jewish organizations than they want, compared to 19 percent who want more involvement in non-Jewish organizations.

And respondents have a very positive image of people involved with Jewish organizations; a majority think of them as well educated, Jewishly knowledgeable, active in the community and interested in community or world affairs.

The policy implications of these findings are far-reaching, said Rosen, a research associate in AJCommittee’s department of communal affairs. There clearly is a sizable Jewish population ready to be asked to do more, a widespread willingness on which Jewish organizations should capitalize, she explained.

“It leaves the field wide open for Jewish organizations to do much more,” she said. “Organizations can build on the weak ties but positive attitudes to ask more of Jews.”

MAKE ORGANIZATIONS ‘MORE RELEVANT’

Jewish groups should “get them more involved in setting agendas and in making the organizations more relevant to everyday lives.”

Some of the findings that could shape the way Jewish groups market themselves include:

* More than twice as many respondents said they belong to non-sectarian organizations to network for professional reasons as said they belong to non-sectarian organizations to network for professional reasons as said they belong to Jewish groups for that reason (33 percent vs. 15 percent.).

*Many more said they belong to Jewish groups because of family and friendship ties to the organization (43 percent), and because of an emotional attachment to the group (34 percent) than cited those as reasons for belonging to non-Jewish groups (21 and 19 percent, respectively).

In other findings, two-thirds of respondents believe that affiliation with Jewish groups and with non-sectarian organizations is of equal importance and that affiliation with a Jewish organization is as important as belonging to a synagogue. Most of those surveyed expressed satisfaction with their level of involvement.

A plurality — 46 percent — said they were involved with one Jewish organization other than a synagogue in 1990, 25 percent said they were involved with two, and 28 percent with three organizations or more.

But two-thirds of the survey’s respondents said that other than dues and membership fees, they donated less than $200 to all Jewish organizations. Roughly the same percentage of respondents donated less than $200 to non-sectarian groups.

By a margin of 56 percent to 47 percent, more respondents said they gave money to Jewish organizations than to non-sectarian groups, but more were likely to do volunteer work for non-sectarian groups than for Jewish ones (41 percent vs. 32 percent).

As might be expected, the stronger someone’s Jewish identity, the more likely the person is to affiliate with Jewish organizations, according to the study. Those who are married to other Jews, belong to a synagogue, attend services, and are more religious are likeliest to affiliate.

There is “a very strong association” between one’s religious observance and membership in Jewish organizations, said Rosen.

Orthodox Jews are more likely than Conservative Jews to participate in Jewish organizations, and Conservative Jews are more likely than Reform Jews and those who claim no denominational affiliaition, the survey found.

The survey was conducted by Market Facts Inc., a national research company, in February 1991. The 1,114 responses came from 1,600 surveys sent to self-identified Jewish members of the company’s consumer mail panel.