The 2017 Greater Washington, DC Jewish Community Demographic Study
43
Chapter 5. Jewish Children The focus of this chapter is on the choices that parents make regarding how to raise their children in terms of religion and how families participate in Metro DC’s Jewish educational opportunities. Participation in Jewish educational institutions includes formal programs, such as preschools and part- and full-time schools, as well as informal programs, such as camp and youth groups. In the Metro DC area with 51,000 Jewish children, there are 37 Jewish early childhood centers, eight Jewish day schools and yeshivot, along with 31 part-time schools.24 Raising Jewish children does not start with enrollment in educational institutions. Parents’ initial decisions include whether to raise the children as Jewish religiously or culturally, in no religion, multiple religions, or in another religion. Parents in the survey were asked to describe how they were raising their children in terms of religion with response options as shown in Figure 5.1.
Among the 60,100 children who live in Metro DC Jewish households, there are 51,000 children being raised Jewish in some way: either Jewish by religion, secular or culturally Jewish, or Jewish and another religion (Table 5.1). Of the 9,100 children who are not being raised Table 5.1 Metro DC child population estimates, 2017 Jewish, fewer than 1,000 are being Jewish All children raised solely in another religion. Nearly half (45%) of all children in Jewish homes are being raised Jewish by religion (Figure 5.1). Another 31% of children are being raised as secular or cultural Jews. Nine percent of children are Jewish and another
Age 0-5
24,100
29,400
Age 6-12
13,900
16,200
Age 13-17
12,100
13,500
Age unknown TOTAL
1,000 51,000
Figure 5.1 Religion of children in Jewish households (% of children in Jewish households) Not Yet Decided 4%
Jewish by Religion 45%
No Religion 10% Another Religion 1% Jewish and Another Religion 9%
Secular/Culturally Jewish 31%
60,100