The Jewish dimension among recent Soviet immigrants to the United States.

Abstract

The strength of the ties of Soviet immigrants to the US Jewish community was assessed in a survey of 900 Soviet Jewish families living in 14 US cities. Being Jewish was very important to 57% of respondents and somewhat important to 28%; 90% would choose to be born Jewish if given a choice. 42% of immigrants considered themselves to be somewhat fairly or very religious at the time of the survey compared with 15% when they lived in the Soviet Union. 7% reported regular and 75% reported occasional temple or synagogue attendance in the US. Older respondents were more likely to affiliate with an Orthodox synagogue wheras younger respondents showed a marked preference for Reform Judaism. However less than 10% belong to Jewish fraternal or community organizations and the majority do not observe traditional religious practices. Respondents age 50 years and very consistently demonstrated stronger religious attachments. Although respondents indicated they would not encourage their children to settle in Israel the large majority want them to receive a good Jewish education affiliate with the American Jewish community and observe Jewish religious practices even in cases where the respondents do not. Later surveys should seek to examine Jewish identity and affilitation patterns among the younger cohort of Soviet Jewish immigrants.

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