American Jewish Committee Study Probes Costs of Living Jewishly

American Jewish Committee
Tuesday, 29 January 2002

The American Jewish Committee today released a comprehensive study of the costs, personal and communal, of living Jewishly in the U.S.
"Jewish life costs too much for all but the highly motivated," concludes Gerald B. Bubis, vice chair and a fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, who wrote the study, The Costs of Jewish Living: Revisiting Jewish Involvements and Barriers.

Professor Bubis says expenses are so high for affiliated and potentially affiliating Jews, and other lures for their money and energy are so potent, that new ways of funding must be explored.

The study was funded by the William Petschek National Jewish Family Center of the American Jewish Committee.

Dr. Steven Bayme, director of AJC's Contemporary Jewish Life Department, says "Jews, like other Americans, make choices every day – buying a car, choosing a residence, selecting schooling, taking vacations – and, for many, the question is what Jewish experiences are worth to them when compared with other perfectly desirable items."

The costs of Jewish life – including synagogue affiliation, schooling, camps, Federation and other charitable donations, memberships in Jewish Community Centers and communal organizations – can easily total $30-35,000 per family, according to the new AJC study.

Outside the Orthodox community, which is overwhelmingly committed to Jewish observance no matter the cost, these forms of Jewish identification are often considered discretionary, Professor Bubis reports.

Noting that the median income for Jewish households is about $75-80,000 for families with children, Professor Bubis points out a distinct discrepancy between Jewish leadership and many in the community at large.

The gap between most of those who use community services and community leaders has probably never been greater. Only 17 percent of board members earn less than $100,000 a year; some 52 per cent earn over $200,000.

"Not all Jews fit the upscale economic profile, and the community needs to encourage Jewish choices by making them more affordable," says Dr. Bayme.

The American Jewish community has assets of $1 trillion or, in terms of gross domestic product, $480 billion, 8 per cent of the total GDP, according to the new AJC study. The AJC study reviews the work of a number of scholars, including Professor Bubis, in the decade since the American Jewish Committee published The High Cost of Jewish Living by Aryeh Meir and Lisa Hostein. Citing the work of one such scholar, Professor Bubis notes that "Carmel Chiswick coined the term 'Jewish human capital': the sum of a person's skills, memories, and experiences, including the time devoted to acquiring this capital."

"Not everything done to increase Jewish identification need cost billions of dollars," Professor Bubis states. "There remains the Jews' secret weapon: the family."

Jewish human capital is in part the cost incurred in the home, usually by parents directed towards children, when experiencing Jewish life informally. Decisions about whether Jewish music, art and literature is a living force in the home, whether vacations include spots of Jewish interest, even choice of neighborhood, are all part of the picture.

"Chiswick points out that few are motivated to acquire this capital, because the majority of Jews do not find it attractive," says Professor Bubis.

For the future, writes Professor Bubis, high tech communications and quality media products must be developed and used by the community for outreach and education, "and communication experts must articulate why living Jewish lives to the fullest is worthwhile."

While it may be costs that keep or drive low and middle income Jews away from living Jewishly, other factors, including a perceived lack of institutional and programmatic quality, come into play for the "superrich."

Cultivating the "growing pool of multimillionaires and billionaires" is critical to the future health of the community, the report suggests, while noting ironically that the very professionals employed to extol the community to the wealthy are often not paid enough to use its services.

Looking ahead, says the AJC report, Jewish educational costs might be aided by a financial instrument similar to State of Israel Bonds. Other funds could be raised by using capital fund drives for more than just the buildings being funded. Partnerships between Federations and synagogues can have financial benefits.

"Cost, in turn, cannot be separated from goals. At the bottom line, the main reason community leadership wants to expand intensive Jewish experiences, both formal and informal, is fear of ongoing assimilation and intermarriage," writes Professor Bubis.

In releasing the report, Dr. Bayme noted that AJC is trying to break the communication barrier surrounding affordability and articulate the principle that no individual or family shall be denied access to treasures of Jewish heritage and communal life on the basis of financial costs.

For more information, or to contact American Jewish Committee, see their website at: www.ajc.org