Incredible shrinking Jewish Diaspora??

Where have all the young Jews gone? Not to Israel everyone. Last year we had only 20,000 immigrants. Perhaps an equal number of emigrants. But the population of Diaspora Jews shrank by 100,000, if this study is to be believed. Of course, a different study will produce more Jews and show us that it is not really as bad as it seems. This study estimates that there are 13.2 million Jews.

 

But here is another report, from 2002, from Ha'aretz, which claims that the same institute found that there are 12.9 million Jews:

 

 World Jewish population drops by 300,000 to 12.9 million 
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=236983
By Yair Sheleg 
The number of Jews in the world is declining with a net loss of 300,000 American Jews in the last decade, according to a new study following a preliminary examination of the recent census of American Jewry, according to the Jewish Agency's Institute for Jewish People Policy Planning.

 

According to the institute, which convened an emergency session to deal with what it called the "demographic crisis," there are now some 12.9 million Jews in the world. Earlier this year, estimates put the number at 13.2 million. The main reason for the decline appears in the data from the census of Jewish communities in the U.S., which showed that there has been a decline of 300,000 in American Jewry, from 5.5 million in 1990 to 5.2 million in 2002. Experts say that some 300,000 Jews emigrated to the U.S. during the 1990s, but nonetheless, the community lost some 50,000 Jews a year, mostly to natural attrition.

 

We can date the article, because it is quoted in a number of places (see here for example)
If there were 12.9 million Jews then in 2002, and 12.9 million in 2006, why would the number grow by 200,000 in 2007? 

 

Most likely a different calculation was used. Someone should explain why the ever shrinking Jewish community seems to remain about the same size. It is peculiar that the Ha'aretz report doesn't give the separate figures for the United States. The Jewish People Planning Institute Web site is not updated and doesn't give the report.

 

Ami Isseroff

 

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 Last update - 04:56 06/01/2008      
Percent of world Jewry living in Israel climbed to 41% in 2007
By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondent
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/942009.html

 

The world Jewish population in 2007 is estimated at 13.2 million people, a rise of some 200,000 over 2006, according to a Jewish People Policy Planning Institute report published Sunday.

 

In the past year, the number of Diaspora Jews shrunk by 100,000, while Israel's Jewish population rose by 300,000. Israel is now the home of 41 percent of worldwide Jewry, the report said.

 

According to a poll conducted by the institute and included in its report, most American Jews fear for the safety of Israel in the wake of the Second Lebanon War and Iran's nuclear program.
 
Respondents from Jewish communities in Europe and Latin America said they were less inclined to feel an affinity with Israel and they believed radical Islam was being dealt with successfully in their countries.

 

According to the report, two tiers exist among Jewish communities abroad: A religious one, whose sense of affiliation to Israel is increasing, and another whose Jewish sense of association is weakening and among whom intermarriage is more commonplace.

 

Institute managing director Avinoam Bar Yosef said the state should allocate more funds to reaching out to the 'second tier' of Diaspora Jews.

Source