The Greater Boston Area Jewish Ensemble, 1985

The Jewish population of the CJP [Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Boston’s Jewish federation] are increased 10% between 1975 and 1985, and now totals 187,000. the number of Jews in Boston itself and in the communities to the northeast and southeast remained stable or decreased between 1975 and 1985. The Jewish population grew in the areas to the northwest, west, and south of Boston. The greatest percentage growth was in Newton and the towns from Sharon and Randolph south through Brockton. Forty-five percent of the Jewish population of the CJP area lives in Boston, Newton, and Brookline. Only 45% of Greater Boston’s Jewish adults have lived in their current city or town for ten years or more. Sixty-two percent are likely to stay in the area for at least the next 10 years. Boston is [in its age groupings] the youngest Jewish community in the United States. Fifty-four percent of the adult population is under 40. The young adults who come to Greater Boston tend to remain here. Sixty percent of Jews in their 30s were here in 1975. Seventy percent of them expect to stay here for 10 years or more. There are 20% more Jews over age 70 than there were in 1975. Boston is having a Jewish “baby boomlet.” For every 5 children between the ages of 6 and 10, there are 8 under the age of 6.

Forty-one percent are affiliated with synagogues, the same proportion as in 1975. The rates of synagogal affiliation are up for those over 65 and under-40 singles. For the first time, more Jews identify as Reform than any other group (42%). Thirty-three percent say they are Conservative, 4% Orthodox, and 14% express no preference. Eighty-three percent of children in the CJP area are receiving or will have received some form of Jewish education. Over 90% of them will receive it in afternoon and Sunday schools. The rate of intermarriage for first marriages has not changed in the past decade. Twenty-nine percent of first marriages in the 1980-85 period were to an originally non-Jewish spouse. The intermarriage rate for second marriages is 54%. Attending a Passover seder remains the most widely-observed Jewish practice, and lighting Chanukah candles is close behind. Sixteen percent are JCC [Jewish Community Center] members and 61% of JCC members belong to synagogues. About a third of adults have visited or lived in Israel. Ninety-five percent gave to some form of Jewish charity in the past year. Thirty-nine percent gave to CJP. About half of the CJP area, with 55% of the Jewish population, consists of home-owner communities, in which over two-thirds own their homes. Forty-five percent live in renter communities, where over two-thirds rent. Jews in the renter communities are more likely to be very young or very old, to be newcomers, to have lower median incomes and smaller households, and they are less likely to be married, have children, and give to CJP. Jews in the communities south of Boston are more likely to have been born in the metropolitan area, and they are less likely to have advanced degrees, or to have traveled to Israel. The highest rates of synagogue affiliation are in the homeowner communities of Newton and the South Central-Brockton areas. Jews under 40 are more likely to live in sparsely Jewish neighborhoods, but more of them would also like there to be more Jews where they live.

There is a continuing high desire for the Jewish community to offer social services under Jewish auspices. About a third of households experienced family or marriage problems in the previous year, and 23% had vocational issues. Twenty-four percent of families with children reported serious problems or concerns about their children, and 33% of households with singles in them desired singles’ programs. Twenty-three percent had an elderly relative who had difficulty managing on their own. Depending on the type of problem, from 30% to 80% sought help. The greatest need for help with family and vocational problems is felt in the lowest income households. Problems with elderly relatives are felt equally by all economic groups. Jews continue to postpone marriage; 63% of adults in their 20s are singles, and 23% of adults in their 30s have never married. Eight percent of Jewish adults in their 30s and 12% of the ones in their 40s are currently divorced. This is higher than ever before, although the proportion is smaller than in the general population. More than two-thirds of the currently divorced are women. Twenty-three percent of the Jewish households in Greater Boston have only one person. Households with 2 spouses and children are now only 24% of all households. Single parent households make up about 9% of all households with children. Sixty-two percent of Jewish women are in the work force, two thirds of them full-time. Sixty percent of women with children under the age of 4 are working.