A 300 percent increase in the value of synagogue buildings in the decade from 1916 to 1926 is shown in a volume entitled “The United States Looks At Its Churches” which was compiled for the Institute of Social and Religious Research by Dr. C. Luther Fry. In the two decades from 1906 to 1926 the increase was 400 percent, the actual figures for the synagogue values in the years 1960, 1916 and 1926 being, $23,198,925, $31,012,576 and $97,401,688 respectively.
Dr. Fry gives the total membership of Jewish synagogues as 2,930,000 persons over 13 years of age but he explains that this number “undoubtedly exaggerates the numerical strength…. because Jewish membership has recently been defined in such an inclusive fashion that the data collected are virtually population estimates rather than membership figures comparable with those for other religious bodies”.
In giving figures for church members by rural or urban areas Dr. Fry points out that 94 percent of all synagogues members are in urban areas which makes Judaism the most urban religion in the country. Of all the church members in the United States 6.6 percent are Jews while 69 percent of all Jews in the country are affiliated with synagogues.
While there is naturally not a single state in which synagogue members constitute a majority of all church members there is no state in which there are no synagogue members, making the Jews one of eight denominations in the country that have at least one church in every state.
The value of the synagogues per synagogue adult members is $33 but this small investment does not mean that synagogues are comparatively inexpensive, but on the contrary. The average synagogue costs $86,000, which is higher than the cost of a church for any other large denomination in the United States.
The Jewish congregations also have the smallest expenditure per adult member, the figure being $6.52 in urban areas and $5.35 in rural areas. In view of this small expenditure per adult member it is surprising to find that the Jews are among the highest in expenditures per congregation with an average of more than $12,500, contrasted with a national average of only $3,800.
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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.
