Synagogue Council to Study Religious Sentiments Among U.S. Jews

The Synagogue Council of America today announced that it is initiating a research study to establish the factors “motivating and inhibiting the meaningful involvement of the Jewish population in the life of the synagogue.” The projected study will be conducted by the Bureau of Applied Social Research of Columbia University.

The carrying out of the study will take 18 months and will cost from $60,000 to $100,000, it was estimated. The proposed research investigation will seek to determine “the religious, social, and psychological needs and satisfactions experienced by the synagogue member, and the kinds of educational programs necessary to relate the synagogue’s message to its constituency in an optimal way.” The study would also seek to determine the motivations accounting for non-affiliation with the synagogue and to suggest what can be done by the synagogue to encourage affiliation.

The Synagogue Council is now submitting the proposed study to the constituent agencies of the Council for formal ratification. These agencies are: The Rabbinical Council of America and the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America; the Rabbinical Assembly of America and the United Synagogue of America; the Central Conference of American Rabbis and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.

The study would also be submitted to the National Sponsors Committee in order to enable the key Jewish leaders throughout the country to determine its application to their local communities. The Synagogue Council plans to hold regional and local mobilization conferences throughout the United States to bring together the rabbinical and non-rabbinical leaders of Judaism in a concerted effort to advance this program. A General Assembly devoted to an analysis of the current religious revival in America will be held this fall in New York, it was announced.