T. Belman. Why should the Jews of eastern Europe feel closer to Israel and shun intermarriage moreso than American Jews do?
Survey finds 96% of Jews in Eastern Europe feel safe, compared to 76% of Jews in Western Europe • Intermarriage rate drops from 64% in 2008 to 40% in 2018 • Alienation from Jewish community life, demographic decline seen as greatest threats, data shows.
A new poll finds 68% of European Jews fully support Israel, regardless of its government’s actions
Support for Israel among Jewish communities in Europe has increased dramatically, according to a 2018 survey of community leaders and Jewish professionals recently published by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
Of the 893 respondents from 28 European countries and Turkey, 68% said they fully support Israel, regardless of its government’s actions. In comparison, 55% said they fully supported Israel in a poll taken in 2015, and 61% and 56% said they did in the first two such polls taken in 2008, 2011, respectively.
Meanwhile 42% of respondents said they agreed with the statement “I am sometimes ashamed of the actions of the Israeli government,” compared to 51% in 2015.
In Western Europe, only 11% of respondents said their communities demonstrated “a great deal of disagreement with Israel.” In Eastern Europe, the number stood at an impressive 1%.
The survey further founds that European Jews do not plan on emigrating any time soon. According to the survey, 76% of respondents said they had not made plans to emigrate out of concerns over anti-Semitism in the last five years. Sixty-three percent said they feel “fairly safe,” while 20% said they felt “very safe,” 13% said they did not feel safe and 4% said they do not feel safe at all.
At 96%, Jews in Eastern Europe feel safer than their Western European counterparts, 76% of whom said they feel safe.
According to the survey, the rate of intermarriage dropped from 64% at 2008 to 40% in 2018. In 2015, the rate stood at 44%%.
At 66%, respondents said the greatest threat to the future of European Jews was alienation from Jewish community life, followed by democratic decline at 65%. Anti-Semitism came in as the sixth most pressing concern at 56%, an increase from the 23% who cited it as the most pressing concern a decade ago.
Warsaw’s Chabad Rabbi Shalom Stambler said the results of the survey bolstered “what I personally see every day here in Warsaw and in Poland in general.
“Most of the Jewish communities identify strongly with Israel and a majority would therefore agree that they fully support Israel, regardless of its government’s actions.”
Stambler said that compared to Western Europe, the situation in Poland is much better and Jews feel relatively safe. As for concerns Jews were alienated from “Jewish community life” and suffering from demographic decline, Stambler said “that is the reason we are here, to be an address for every Jew here and strengthen their Jewish identity.”
Would anyone consider that a portion of these respondents are yordim and may have at least their extended families living in Israel still…… I don’t know the numbers, but their -even unintended-influence must be considerable.
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Thanks to The Lubavitcher Rebbi’s Insight and Loving Care for Every Jew!
His legacy lives on.
Jews feeling safe in Eastern Europe does not correspond to what I learn from Jews living in Poland.
Great number of Polish Jews and even people with some Jewish ancestry are hiding their Jewish nationality.
When I was in Krakow 1/2 month ago, I stayed in a tiny in owned by a guy whose mother was Jewish. She hid this from her family. He discovered it only after she died.
He told a friend and the friend said, “don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone”.
This fellow, Thomasz, assured me that antisemitism in Poland is very strong, and that it never disappeared. That it only went under cover a bit, and now is out again.
(By the way I do recommend this in for anyone going to Krakow.
Also those going to Auschwitz, need to go to Krakow first, as it is the nearest airport.)