Our Community Mosaic

Our Community Mosaic

Join us on Monday, May 22 at 6:00 pm in the Lipeles Auditorium at the Alpert JCC on the Weinberg Jewish Long Beach Campus for our Community Study Panel featuring Dr. Janet Aronson from Brandeis University, Dr. Richard Marcus, and CEO Zach Benjamin.

Who are we? Where are we? What are our needs? What are our priorities? How do we want to support them? The Jewish community of Greater Long Beach and West Orange County has been struggling for decades to answer these questions. Jewish Long Beach partnered with the Brandeis University Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies and the University of Chicago National Opinion Research Center to conduct a community study and find some answers. The results are fascinating. Based on survey responses, the study estimates the 38,900 individuals living in 17,700 Jewish households are more spread out, pluralistic, diverse, and disproportionately well-educated, even compared to other Jewish communities, and they are shifting rapidly in demography and views. While involvement in the Jewish community has followed the national pattern in decreasing, personal Jewish identity and its importance in daily life is increasing – even in interfaith families.

How meaning is imbued in Jewish identity is also diverse and changing, but our values are constant. This leads to new cultural, educational, religious, and social priorities. Rather than acting with insularity, there is a tendency to take those values outside of the Jewish community in our daily lives while volunteering time and donating money to non-Jewish causes that are consistent with the beliefs unveiled in the survey (most notably health and human services and social justice). This manifests in different ways but brings the community together in concerns about advocacy and antisemitism.

Nearly half of our community feels more comfortable participating in events when there is greater diversity, and there is a clear indication that there is more to be done in welcoming people of color, people who identify as LGBTQIA, and people with disabilities or special needs.

There is a generational shift that is placing more emphasis on the distinctions between Jewish education and interest in Israel, but Israel plays an important role in the Jewish identity of most Jewish adults in our area. A clear difference emerges between supporting the Israeli state and supporting a specific Israeli government or set of policies. Two-thirds of adults follow news about Israel closely and 80 percent believe caring about Israel is essential to being Jewish. The 60 percent of adults who are emotionally attached to Israel is higher than the national average and is higher among younger adults than older ones. An astounding half of Jewish adults have been to Israel at least once and a quarter have been multiple times or have lived there.

The community study also shines a light on household struggles and community barriers. Nearly 1 in 5 people living in Jewish households are struggling financially, with many of those receiving public benefits. Financial challenges are a perceived barrier to participation in Jewish life. Other barriers include nearly one quarter of Jewish households with a member whose work, school, or activities are limited by a chronic health issue, special need, or disability; and a quarter of the Jewish population does not feel comfortable in Jewish programs, even if they know someone there. Nearly half of our community feels more comfortable participating in events when there is greater diversity, and there is a clear indication that there is more to be done in welcoming people of color, people who identify as LGBTQIA, and people with disabilities or special needs.

The Community Study Working Group is indebted to the hard work put into this effort by the Principal Investigator, Dr. Janet Aronson, the team at the Cohen Center, and the technical innovators at NORC. The report is rich and weighty shining a light on the tremendous strengths and opportunities within our community. It will stand as a foundation for efforts throughout the Jewish community for years to come. At the same time, the Jewish community of Greater Long Beach and West Orange County will benefit in other ways. We will continue to explore the data to unpack more specific issues, and, with over two dozen studies of communities around the country, the Cohen Center will continue to help us understand where we as American Jewry fit, where we coalesce, and where we have regional differences. The release of this new community study is just the beginning of our journey to better understanding ourselves, and we could not be more excited!

The Jewish Long Beach Community Study Working Group.

Jeffrey Blutinger, J.D., Ph.D. (History, Jewish Studies)

Sean Hogan, Ph.D. (Social Work)

Richard R. Marcus, Ph.D. (Political Science)

Suzanne Perlitsh, Ph.D. (Geography)

Vicki Scherwin, Ph.D. (Management)