A majority of the Jews in Amsterdam have virtually given up all religious practices and never attend a synagogue although they apparently continue to identify themselves as Jews and believe that anti-Semitism exists in Holland. These facts were brought out today in a study by Dr. Salomon Wynberg who is preparing a sociological thesis for the State University of Utrecht.
Amsterdam, the largest city in the Netherlands, had a Jewish population after World War II of 12,600, compared to 100,000 Jews prior to 1940. Dr. Wynberg interviewed 210 Jews over the age of 18 and found that only 36 percent could read Hebrew; only one percent attended daily services at Orthodox or Liberal synagogues, 25 percent attended synagogues only on the High Holy Days; and 74 percent never attend. He found that 54 percent do not believe in God, and 76 percent do not accept the concept of Israel as the “chosen people.
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