Community – Who ya gonna call?

If you call the LA Federation with a question about the demographics of Los Angeles Jewry, there’s a very good chance you will be referred to me.

This is both flattering and awkward since my colleague, Pini Herman, ” title=”recent publications on the 1997 study ” target=”_blank”> recent publications on the 1997 study was published by Casden Institute for the Study of the Jewish Role in American Life at USC,  and I draw on some of my findings in this and in future posts.

The most typical question I get have to do with the size and demographic profile of the Jewish population in particular communities, along with inquires regarding where Jews are moving. It’s hard to be very helpful with older data, but I have developed some questions of my own for the next study (may it come quickly and in our time), three of which I share here.

Question 1:  Is the Los Angeles Jewish population growing, shrinking or remaining stable?

The 1997 report shows only modest Jewish population growth from 503,000 to 519,000.  The latter figure is an underestimate for comparison purposes because the 1979 study included the San Gabriel Valley and the 1997 study did not count children raised in no religion by intermarried parents as Jews. If you add in those two groups the 1997 estimate would be 528,000, or 5 percent growth over 18 years.  That’s basically a stable Jewish population, and that stability is impressive given that