Israel Matzav

Saturday, November 12, 2011

It's a boy!

Mrs. Carl and I are thrilled to announce that our eldest daughter, known to some of you as the Beguiling Avigayil, gave birth to a baby boy on Friday night, a couple of hours after the Sabbath started. He was 3.5 kilos (they don't measure height/length here). Mother and son are thank God fine.

May we all celebrate joyous occasions together!

Labels: Jewish grandchildren

Saturday, January 15, 2011

A stunning survey from Baltimore

This is not directly related to Israel, but it's too important not to discuss. How many of you remember this chart and this post?

There's a new survey out in Baltimore - one of America's largest Jewish communities - that's confirming the chart above:

Some of the study’s more dramatic finds show a community that has surged from being 21 percent to 32 percent Orthodox, has seen those “just managing” economically or worse shoot from one in five to one in three, and has witnessed people ages 85 and older climb from 9 percent of the senior population (65 and older) to 20 percent.

Other statistics are equally stunning: When it comes to marriage, 87 percent of the Orthodox young adults ages 18 to 34 are married; 91 percent of non-Orthodox Jews in that group remain single. Equally sure to causes gasps is how only 30 percent of children of intermarriages are being raised Jewish.

“Overall, if you ask me are there a lot of big surprises, I’d say that in most areas the directions are not surprising. But in some cases the rates of change or non-change are surprising,” said Dr. Jack Ukeles, whose Ukeles Associates Inc. did both this and the 1999 Baltimore community study. “If you had asked me would the Orthodox community continue to grow, I would say probably. If you would ask would it be 32 percent as opposed to 21 percent, that’s a huge increase and has huge implications for the community.”

Read the whole thing.

Labels: Baltimore, demography, Jewish grandchildren