Questionnaires are being mailed to all churches and synagogues in the United States for the fifth decennial census of religious bodies, the Bureau of the Census today announced.
The census of religious bodies has been taken every ten years since 1906. It provides the only official government figures with respect to membership in the various religious denominations or organizations. The last census of religious bodies, taken in 1936, revealed that there were 3,728 local Jewish congregations with a membership of 4,641,184. There were 2,851 synagogue buildings reported with a total value of approximately $126,000,000.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
