We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Social Connections: One Key to Engaging Jewishly.
- Authors
Fishman, Sylvia Barack; Hartman, Harriet
- Abstract
Using data from the Pew 2020 Survey of Jewish Americans, this study argues that "Connections," that is, social groupings between Jews—family, friends, and community—correlate with both traditional and contemporary expressions of Jewishness (Jewish "Engagements"), including interests and activities that might seem unrelated to social interactions on the surface. Contemporary Jewish Engagements, often favored by younger American Jews who have diverse relationships with their own Jewishness, offer the potential for enhancing the vitality of American Jewish life by engaging Jews who, for a variety of reasons, are not engaged by traditional Jewish practices. Furthermore, the presence of even one adult in a household who identifies as "Jewish by religion" is correlated with both more extensive Jewish Connections and Jewish Engagements. Endogamous Jewish families provide the strongest household contexts for both extensive Jewish Connections and traditional Jewish Engagements. Positive attitudes toward connecting with other Jews are highly correlated with both traditional and contemporary Jewish Engagements. This study shows that contemporary Engagements are valuable not as a replacement for traditional Engagements, but rather because they offer a broad spectrum of contemporary younger American Jews an accessible and appealing way of engaging with their own Jewishness.
- Subjects
AMERICAN Jews; JUDAISM; JEWISH families; JEWISH way of life; JEWISH identity; SURFACE interactions
- Publication
Contemporary Jewry, 2023, Vol 43, Issue 2, p361
- ISSN
0147-1694
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s12397-023-09505-x