Abstract: The 2021 public dispute between Maxim Biller and Max Czollek over the latter's patrilineal Jewish identity ignited a national German debate on the boundaries of Jewishness, moving the issue from internal discourse into the public sphere, linked with German anti-Antisemitism narratives. This essay uses the Czollek-Biller controversy and the related Gerstetter debate on converts as entry points to explore the multifaceted and often conflicting definitions of Jewish identity. It surveys criteria across Jewish movements (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, etc.) and considers ethnic, secular, hybrid (Israeli Law of Return), quasi-essentialist (Noahides, zera yisrael), and nonessentialist/self-identification models. The aim is to equip those in interreligious and intra-Jewish dialogue with a deeper understanding of these complexities. The conclusion offers practical implications for dialogue, stressing the need to acknowledge internal diversity, to analyze critically the politics of representation and inherent power dynamics (applying Cunningham's maxim through a Foucauldian lens), to prioritize narrative and lived experience, and to recognize the inadequacy of simple Jewish/non-Jewish dichotomies when engaging with contemporary Jewish life.
Topics: Jewish Identity, Jewish Involvment, Jewish Community, Main Topic: Identity and Community, Jewish Education, Jewish Schools, Youth Movements, Educational Tours, Family and Household, Age and Generational Issues, Denominations
Topics: Jewish Identity, Jewish Community, Denominations, Main Topic: Identity and Community, Jewish History, Reform/Liberal/Progressive Judaism, Conservative / Masorti Judaism, Orthodox Judaism, Chabad-Lubavitch, Haredi / Strictly Orthodox Jews, Israel-Diaspora Relations
Abstract: This chapter analyzes developments that profoundly transformed French Judaism over decades. The former paradigm of French Judaism, dating back to the nineteenth century, was of Judaism united and unified under the auspices of the Consistory, the central religious institution Napoleon created. In this model of "Israelitism," the symbiosis between Jewish and French affiliations was based on Judaism as a faith and French citizenship. International links were established towards the end of the 19th century, notably through the Alliance israélite universelle and intellectuals supporting the Zionist project, but it was the post-1945 world that witnessed a gradual departure from this confessional model. A new Franco-Judaism emerged in the 1970s-1980s, combining Jewish and French identities in new ways: solidarity with Israel, an attachment to diasporic Jewish cultures, an increasingly public affirmation of Jewishness, and advocacy against forms of Holocaust denial. It marked a definitive rupture with the older paradigm of Israelitism. This chapter also focuses on the development of religious pluralism and the increasing internationalization of French Judaism. It examines the four branches of French Jewish Orthodoxy (ultra-Orthodoxy, Chabad, Religious Zionism, and Modern Orthodoxy), as well as the more liberal Reform and Massorti movements. It provides a broad overview of the environments and actors constituting this reconfiguration of a new French Judaism, henceforth anchored in pluralism and internationalization.
Abstract: The third of four mini-reports highlighting different aspects and findings from JPR’s major study ‘The Jewish identities of European Jews: what, why and how’, dives deeper into the different religious lifestyles and denominations of European Jews. Is there a single Jewish voice – or a majority Jewish voice – that represents the entire community? And if there is one – who holds it? In today’s political culture, understanding lifestyle differences within ethnic and religious groups is critical, both to understand their needs and concerns, and to address them.
The new mini-report highlights different aspects of how European Jews express their Jewishness through their choice of denomination – or lack of – and through different Jewish rituals:
• The most numerically significant subgroup is the ‘Just Jewish’ (38%), a general category indicating no clear denominational alignment, followed by the ‘Traditional’;
• European Jewry is undergoing a process of desecularisation: Today, across Europe, the share of more religious persons (Haredi and Orthodox) among younger age groups is substantially larger than among the older;
• The most traditional communities are those in Western Europe. In these communities, about 40%-60% of adult Jews identify as Traditional, Orthodox or Haredi;
• The less traditionally observant lifestyles are in the 74%-78% range in Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands, and reach 90% in Hungary and Poland;
• Attending a Passover Seder and fasting on Yom Kippur are observed by most Jews, including those outside of the Haredi/Orthodox fold. Lighting candles on Friday night and keeping kosher at home are also observed by a much broader range of Jews than just those from the Haredi and Orthodox communities.
The report is based on research conducted in twelve European Union Member States in 2018, which, together, are home to about 80% of the Jewish population of Europe. The study includes the opinions and experiences of over 16,000 respondents – the largest sample of Jews ever surveyed in Europe.
Abstract: Throughout 2021, JPR researchers Professor Sergio DellaPergola and Dr Daniel Staetsky analysed the responses of over 16,000 European Jews in 12 European countries who participated in the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights survey conducted by JPR and Ipsos in 2018. The result of their hard work and innovative approach is ‘The Jewish identities of European Jews’, a study into the what, why and how of Jewish identity.
The report finds some extraordinary differences and similarities between Jews across Europe, including:
European Jews are much more likely to see themselves as a religious minority than an ethnic one, yet fewer than half of all Jewish adults across Europe light candles most Friday nights;
Jewish identity is strongest in Belgium, the UK, France, Austria, Spain and Italy, and weakest in Hungary and Poland;
The memory of the Holocaust and combating antisemitism played a more important part in people’s Jewish identity than support for Israel, belief in God or charitable giving. Rising perceptions of antisemitism may have stimulated a stronger bond with Jewish peoplehood;
Only about half of all Jews in Europe identify with a particular denomination, although there are significant differences at the national level;
Higher proportions of younger Jews are religiously observant than older Jews;
Belgium has the largest proportion of Jews identifying as Orthodox in its Jewish population, followed by the UK, Italy, France and Austria;
Spain has the largest proportion of Jews identifying as Reform/Progressive, followed by Germany and the Netherlands;
Levels of attachment to the European Union among European Jews are higher than, or very similar to, levels of attachment among their fellow citizens in the countries in which they live
Abstract: This report contains a short description of Judaism as a theological, ethical and juridical system, as well as main stages of its history, of modern trends in its development, particularly, of
its traditional and reformist segments. A considerable attention is devoted to Khasidic branch
of Judaism, namely to the Khabad-Lubavich movement, because it plays an important and
ambivalent role in the Judaic communities of the post-Soviet Russia. The report demonstrates
activities of main all-Russian Judaist organizations, and analyzed their mutual relations. It is
noticed, that really religious, or, at least, practicing Jews, represent only a minor fraction in
the contemporary Russian Jewry, while the predominant part of it is composed of practically
religiously indifferent people.
Topics: Antisemitism, Fundraising and Philanthropy, Israel Attachment, Jewish Continuity, Surveys, Jewish Leadership, Jewish Organisations, Main Topic: Identity and Community, Jewish Identity, Denominations, Security / Insecurity
Abstract: The Fourth Survey of European Jewish Community Leaders and Professionals, 2018 presents the results of an online survey offered in 10 languages and administered to 893 respondents in 29 countries. Conducted every three years using the same format, the survey seeks to identify trends and their evolution in time.
The survey asked Jewish lay leaders and community professionals questions regarding future community priorities, identifying the main threats to Jewish life, views on the safety and security situation in their cities, including emergency preparedness, and opinions on an array of internal community issues. Examples include conversions, membership criteria policies on intermarriage, and their vision of Europe and Israel.
The respondents were comprised of presidents and chairpersons of nationwide “umbrella organizations” or Federations; presidents and executive directors of private Jewish foundations, charities, and other privately funded initiatives; presidents and main representatives of Jewish communities that are organized at a city level; executive directors and programme coordinators, as well as current and former board members of Jewish organizations; among others.
The JDC International Centre for Community Development established the survey as a means to identify the priorities, sensibilities and concerns of Europe’s top Jewish leaders and professionals working in Jewish institutions, taking into account the changes that European Jewry has gone through since 1989, and the current political challenges and uncertainties in the continent. In a landscape with few mechanisms that can truly gauge these phenomena, the European Jewish Community Leaders Survey is an essential tool for analysis and applied research in the field of community development.
The Survey team was directed by Dr. Barry Kosmin (Trinity College), who has conducted several large national social surveys and opinion polls in Europe, Africa and the U.S., including the CJF 1990 US National Jewish Population Survey.
Abstract: This study, which was produced by JPR on behalf of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, takes an in-depth statistical look at synagogue membership figures in the UK. Synagogue membership data have been gathered and analysed consistently over several decades, and constitute the best measure of Jewish communal affiliation in the UK that exists. They provide the only consistent indicator of patterns of Jewish affiliation and belonging over time, and are thus of particular interest to community leaders and planners.
The report, authored by JPR researchers Dr Donatella Casale Mashiah and Dr Jonathan Boyd, finds that despite the fact that there are now 454 synagogues in the UK – the largest number ever recorded – synagogue membership numbers have dropped below 80,000 households for the first time since records began. Indeed, there has been a 20% decline over a quarter of a century, and a 4% decline since the last such report was published in 2010.
However, the overall decline masks important developments at a denominational level. Critically, the sector that has declined most sharply is central Orthodoxy – broadly understood as the United Synagogue, the Federation and various independent modern Orthodox synagogues dotted around the country – which collectively have seen a 37% drop since 1990. This decline is partly due to disaffection, but it has also been driven considerably by natural decrease – more members dying than being born.
In contrast, membership of strictly Orthodox synagogues is growing. Indeed, it has grown dramatically over time – by 139% since 1990. A generation ago, the strictly Orthodox comprised 4.5% of all synagogue members households; today they comprise 13.5%. This growth is driven almost exclusively by demographic forces – particularly, high birth rates in this sector of the community.
Taken as a whole, Liberal, Reform and Masorti figures have been fairly stable over time. Liberal and Reform have both declined slightly since 1990, whereas Masorti has grown, albeit from a lower base. But this overall picture of stability is somewhat misleading: in reality, Liberal and Reform synagogues are both losing members at a similar rate to the central Orthodox ones, but unlike those central Orthodox ones, they are also attracting members from their religious ‘right’ to offset those losses.
Topics: Antisemitism, Fundraising and Philanthropy, Israel Attachment, Jewish Continuity, Surveys, Jewish Leadership, Jewish Organisations, Main Topic: Identity and Community, Jewish Identity, Denominations, Security / Insecurity
Abstract: Launched by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee’s International Centre for Community Development (JDC-ICCD), and conducted by a research team at Trinity College (Hartford, Connecticut, USA) between June and August 2015, the Third Survey of European Jewish Leaders and Opinion Formers presents the results of an online survey administered to 314 respondents in 29 countries. The survey was conducted online in five languages: English, French, Spanish, German and Hungarian. The Survey of European Jewish Leaders and Opinion Formers is conducted every three or four years using the same format, in order to identify trends and their evolution. Findings of the 2015 edition were assessed and evaluated based on the results of previous surveys (2008 and 2011). The survey posed Jewish leaders and opinion formers a range of questions about major challenges and issues that
concern European Jewish communities in 2015, and about their expectations of how communities will evolve over the next 5-10 years. The 45 questions (see Appendix) dealt
with topics that relate to internal community structures and their functions, as well as the external environment affecting communities. The questionnaire also included six open-ended questions in a choice of five languages. These answers form the basis of the qualitative analysis of the report. The questions were organized under the following headings:• Vision & Change (6 questions)
• Decision-Making & Control (1 question)
• Lay Leadership (1 question)
• Professional Leadership (2 questions)
• Status Issues & Intermarriage (5 questions)
• Organizational Frameworks (2 questions)
• Community Causes (2 questions)
• Jewish Education (1 question)
• Funding (3 questions)
• Communal Tensions (3 questions)
• Anti-Semitism/Security (5 questions)
• Europe (1 question)
• Israel (1 question)
• Future (2 questions)
• Personal Profile (9 questions)
Topics: Antisemitism, Fundraising and Philanthropy, Israel Attachment, Jewish Continuity, Surveys, Jewish Leadership, Jewish Organisations, Main Topic: Identity and Community, Jewish Identity, Denominations, Security / Insecurity
Abstract: The following report presents data on community statistics for Britain’s Jewish
population compiled by the Community Research Unit (CRU) at the Board of
Deputies of British Jews.
These data are collected on behalf of the whole community. It is the only survey to do
this on an annual basis and therefore the data are unique in being able to show
changes over time. From the point of view of community planners, the data represent
the most up-to-date portrayal of the Jewish community in Britain.
Although they are indicative of actual demographic trends, they only represent those
Jews who have chosen, or whose families have chosen, to associate themselves with
the Jewish community through a formal Jewish act, i.e. circumcision, marriage in a
synagogue, dissolution of marriage by a Beth Din, or Jewish burial or cremation.
Consequently, Jews who have not chosen to identify in these ways do not appear in
this report.
Further, it should be recognised that these data are collected regardless of institutional
denomination. They therefore include some individuals who would not be recognised
as Jewish by all sections of the community.
