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{"id":415,"date":"2012-02-06T19:40:00","date_gmt":"2012-02-06T19:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2012\/02\/israel-by-the-numbers.html"},"modified":"2012-02-06T19:40:00","modified_gmt":"2012-02-06T19:40:00","slug":"israel-by-the-numbers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2012\/02\/israel-by-the-numbers.html","title":{"rendered":"Israel By The Numbers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In terms of self-definition, there has been modest growth in the religious sector.\u00a0 Haredim account for seven percent of the population, up from five percent in 1999.\u00a0 Considering their birthrate, this is not a large bump and it would seem to provide support for those who claim that the number of people leaving Orthodox is quite large, but that was not specifically measured.\u00a0 The number of those who describe themselves as simply Orthodox has risen from 11% to 15%.\u00a0 Taken together, this means that 22% are self-described as Haredi or Orthodox, yet interestingly, only 14% say that they \u201cobserve meticulously.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thirty-two percent of the Jewish population considers itself \u201ctraditional.\u201d\u00a0 In Hebrew this is called \u201cmasorti.\u201d\u00a0 The Israeli Conservative movement is also called \u201cMasorti,\u201d but lacking capital letters, the Hebrew language does not differentiate the two.\u00a0 Israelis, however, know the difference.\u00a0 These \u201cmasorti\u201d Jews are people who like and participate in lots of traditional behaviors but are not Orthodox\u2026or \u201creligious\u201d as they would say in Israel.<\/p>\n

Those who say they are secular constitute 49% of the population, down from 52% ten years earlier.\u00a0 However, 59% of those with a university education are secular Jews.\u00a0 Identifying as secular Jews doesn translate to disengagement from Jewish cultural practices, at least on Shabbat when a whopping 84% of all Israelis set aside family time and 69% gather for a special Friday night dinner.\u00a0 Afterward (and this has been my experience with many of my Israeli friends), many gather around the tube.\u00a0 The survey shows that 65% of all Jewish Israelis watches television on Shabbat.\u00a0 A majority also favors allowing retail to remain open, though only 16% go shopping on Shabbat.\u00a0 Sixty-eight percent favor allowing theaters, cinemas and restaurants\/cafes to be open on Shabbat.<\/p>\n

As for beliefs, it turns out that 80% of Israeli Jews believe that God exists.\u00a0 (On the first copy of the report it said that 80% believe that God \u201cexits.\u201d\u00a0 This was the best typo ever.)\u00a0 There were also high, but decreasing percentages who believe in divine reward and punishment, the power of prayer, life after death, and that the Torah was God-given.\u00a0 A high number also believes that the Jews are the chosen people.\u00a0 This would be more worrisome to me, but they didn\u2019t really clarify what \u201cchosen\u201d means and I have no clue whether this is the unhealthy kind or just people parroting the Jewish mythos.\u00a0 As Tevye lamented, \u201cOnce in a while, can\u2019t you choose someone else?\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not really surprised that 80% believe in God, though I wish the number was lower.\u00a0 Still, the fact that 20% of Israeli Jews say that they do not believe in God at all is a most interesting statistic.\u00a0 It\u2019s lower than in many European nations, but still twice as high as the number of Americans willing to admit to atheism.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"