Last update - 02:20 12/07/2005
Report: Number of Jews in Israel to surpass U.S. Jewish population in 2006
By Amiram Barkat
For the first time since the state's establishment, next year the number of Jews living in Israel will exceed the number of Jews in the United States, according to a report submitted yesterday to the Knesset Immigration and Absorption Committee.
The 2005 assessment report by the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute predicts that Israel will represent an increasing share of the Jewish people: by 2020, Israel's Jewish population will grow by about a million, while the number of Diaspora Jews will shrink by around half a million. The global Jewish population will increase from today's 13 million to 13.5 million.
The JPPPI report, which will be presented at the next cabinet meeting, indicates that Diaspora communities are continuing to dwindle as a result of low birth rates and intermarriage rates of more than 50 percent. The report's authors do not anticipate mass immigration to Israel in the foreseeable future and note that 90 percent of the world's Jews reside in developed countries and enjoy a standard of living similar or higher than Israel's.
At yesterday's Knesset meeting, the chairman of JPPPI's board of directors, Dennis Ross, said that world Jewry must help Jews in Israel deal with the disengagement crisis. Ross said that Diaspora Jews play an important role in conveying a message of non-violence and unity.
JPPPI's founding president, Prof. Yehezkel Dror, said there is concern that global terrorism will deter Jewish communities in the world and lead many Jews to be afraid to take part in local Jewish activities.
JPPPI is a think tank established in Jerusalem three years ago by the Jewish Agency, in cooperation with Jewish donors and foundations in the U.S. The report was prepared by a group of researchers, mostly Israelis, among them Mordechai Altschuler, David Dery, Sergio DellaPergola, Shmuel Trigano, Shevach Weiss and Avi Gil.
The authors recommend the government take a series of steps to combat the dropping number of Jews in the world. Among other things, they suggest introducing a lenient conversion policy and looking favorably upon communities that consider themselves of Jewish descent, such as the Bnei Menashe of India. They also recommend duly increasing efforts to integrate intermarried families into Jewish activities.
The report calls for reforms in Jewish education in the Diaspora by making private schools free and introducing new content to the curriculum to underscore the centrality of Israel to Jewish life.
To increase "cohesion among the Jewish people," the report recommends establishing pan-Jewish organizations to serve as forums for coordinating policy for Israel and Jewish communities in the Diaspora. The authors suggest setting up a global forum of Jewish activists under 35 to combat the aging of the existing leadership of international Jewish organizations.
The deputy minister in charge of Diaspora affairs, MK Michael Melchior, said there is nothing new in the data on the shrinking worldwide Jewish population. Programs like birthright israel, he said, which bring Jewish teenagers to visit Israel, have already proved themselves effective in combating assimilation, but their success is limited by lack of funds.
"A lot can be done in this area with relatively little financial investment, instead of repeatedly hearing recycled assessments. The government must decide once and for all whether it views the continued existence of Jewish communities in the world as a matter of national importance," Melchior said.