Do You Know a Jewish Person?

I was looking at statistics and it appeared that only 1% to 2% of people in the US was Jewish. But it seems like I know many Jewish people. I wonder if that's because of the groups I hang out with.

There must be some areas of the US - maybe midwestern rural US? that have very few Jewish people.

I imagine that Jewish people know a ton of Jewish people

I dated a Jewish boy in high school for a year (my senior year) and his mom was very sweet to me but I think she always hoped that he would end up choosing a Jewish woman for his wife.

I know quite a few, but I'm from Rhode Island, which has an unusually high percentage of Jews living there compared to most states. New York of course has large Jewish communities. I'm in the midwest right now (Iowa) and I met a couple of Jews, but nowhere near the amount as back in RI.

I'm in Massachusetts and there are a lot of colleges here - and for example the site I just looked at said 30% of the faculty at top colleges are Jewish. Even if it's not 30% - even if it's 25% or 20% - that's still far higher than the US general ratio of 2%. So I imagine there are a lot of Jewish people in Massachusetts given all of our colleges ...

The Jewish people I know here are all very well educated and are in sciences or educational areas.

I live in Eastern Ontario. The only Jewish people I know are on television.

Wow really Moe? That's what I was wondering - if there were people on the forum living in areas that simply didn't have any Jewish people in them (or moved in circles that didn't involve Jewish people). Do you know if there's any temples even in your area?

There's probably one in Toronto but not here. But there are more churches than you can count on your fingers and twos. It's a large Irish Catholic community.

Lisa, you should check out the statistics of Jewish people in world before the Holocaust. The percentage was much higher back then... And with intermarriage and assimilation the numbers are going down little by little.

Moe, I find it shocking that you have never met a Jewish person! My area has a very large Jewish population and we all seem to know each other.

My area that is also populated with many different cultures and religions. I have been lucky to meet and get to know a wide range of people. I also have been lucky to be able to practice my religion without problems.

I don't think there are any Jews in very rural areas, just near major cities.
I have come from NYC, and now outside of Philly so there is a Jewish population, but as I have moved more north in PA, I haven't met any other Jews, nor do I see any synagoges!

Well I found a site which says there were about 16 million Jewish people before WWII. The world population in 1930 was 2 billion. In 1940 it was 2.3 billion. So let's take 16 million / 2 billion = .8%. Now in modern times I believe it's .2% across the world (2% in the US).

Does anybody see other figures for either of those two numbers?

From what I've read it seems that the Jewish population has stayed pretty steady - but since the world population has grown, that has caused the percentage to drop relative to the growing world population. Starting from post-WWII of course.

I live in small town East Texas and I know one Jewish person here. When I lived in Dallas attending graduate school, I knew many Jewish people both students and faculty. This included an "exchange" professor from Tel Aviv University. I learned then that knowing about Jewish people is totally different from knowing Jewish people!

I have a very close friend that is Jewish

Anita - it must have been so interesting to talk with the person from Tel Aviv! When I was in high school about half of our immediate group of friends were Jewish and one was from Israel. As soon as high school was over he was going back home to join the army. It was very interesting to the rest of us given how "scary" things were in Israel at the time (and I suppose still are) that he was going to go right into the thick of it. He felt very strongly about it.

I never felt excluded or odd about being a non-Jewish person amongst them. They had their things they did on weekends and I had mine. I was always very interested in their religion.

Skyhaven - there do seem to be many Jewish people around Massachusetts, and I grew up in Connecticut and there were a lot there too. So maybe we are more likely to know Jewish people personally for that reason ...

YA thats true, my psychiatrist is also Jewish, i love it when she brings me food from their pass over ( i think thats what its called)

Good morning Lisa ;o)

Morning I went to bed at maybe 5:30pm last night and got up about 3am I think. So I think I'm almost coming around to a semi-normal schedule Of course my boyfriend is just falling asleep so who knows if we'll ever see each other again ...

I am in the Tampa, FL area and know quite a few Jewish people.

I'm in CA and my best friend when I was a kid was Jewish. I have a couple of Jewish neighbors (I don't know them, but they hang Hanukkah decorations ) and a work with a few Jewish people as well.

My husband is Jewish. We live in a suburb of Dallas, and there's a synagogue in the next suburb over. He sings in the choir at a large synagogue in Dallas on the Jewish holidays, there is an neighborhood there that has a high percentage of Jewish people. He grew up in New York, where there are many Jewish people, and his parents retired to Florida, also high numbers there.

I love certain Jewish foods, such as lox (smoked salmon) and recently discovered Cinnamon Babka (wish I could get it here in Dallas!!!)

Cindy

I knew a number of Jewish people in college (in Boston), but I don't think I've met a single one since moving to Colorado a few years ago.

I can introduce you to some Jewish people in Colorado. What part of Colorado do you live in? There is actually a decent sized Jewish community around Denver. Personally, I know some Jews in Boulder, Aspen and Aurora in addition to Denver.

I think you can probably find Chabad wherever you go in the world. They focus a lot on outreach and are often the only ones in those small, rural places where you think no Jew exists.