Despite a decline in the national Jewish population, both the city of Boston and Boston University draw some of the highest numbers of Jews in the nation, which local religious leaders attribute to the city and campus’s facilities.
According to a survey by Brandeis University’s Steinhardt Social Research Institute, the percent of the Boston population that is Jewish has risen to 7.2 percent, ranking the Hub among the Top 10 Jewish cities in America.
The survey — released last month – shows there are now 210,000 Jews in Boston, up 33,000 since 1995. At the same time, the number of non-Jewish members of Jewish households has almost doubled to 55,000.
“Although intermarriage is generally presumed to have a negative impact on the size of the Jewish population, in Boston it appears to have increased the size of the Jewish population,” the study notes.
Steinhardt Institute director Leonard Saxe said the survey actually underestimates the city’s student population at about 7,000, adding it is “large and the community has made a major commitment to support programs at area universities.”
“The large Jewish student population is part of the character of Boston,” he added.
Jews are attracted to Boston because of its rich offerings in education, jobs and culture, said Jamie Stolper, a founder of ShalomBoston.com, a website for the local Jewish community.
Boston has “a large [Jewish] population base with active and creative members and leaders, which results in lots of vibrant synagogues and other Jewish organizations,” she said.
Rabbi Joseph Polak, the executive director of Boston University’s Hillel House, was skeptical of the survey’s view of Jewish demographics.
“The Jewish community in America is hemorrhaging beyond your wildest imagination,” he said. “We are 50 percent of the number we were in 1960.”
Polak said the population increase includes many Jews whose commitment to the faith is questionable, including the children of Jews and their non-Jewish and converted spouses.
Although he said it is impressive that converts want to join the Jewish community, Polak said he is unsure about how serious they are about passing on the faith.
“I don’t question anyone’s sincerity,” he said, “but unless you are prepared to tell your kid that you can’t drive a car on [the Sabbath] as the Torah says, it doesn’t mean a whole lot. You’re not going to get a second generation of committed Jews.”
Jews account for approximately 2 percent of the United States population and one-fifth of the world’s.
However, the ratio is higher at BU. Approximately 3,000 Jewish students are enrolled at the university, making up approximately 15 percent of the student population, according to Reform Judaism Magazine, which ranked the school as number two on its list of private “Schools Jews Choose.”
Polak said, however, that the Jewish community at BU is shrinking.
“When I came here in 1970, there were 7,500 Jewish students at Boston University,” he said. “What happened at BU is exactly what is happening in America.”
Polak said Jewish students choose to come to BU because they want “a university where they can be Jews, and we’re the best.” He also cited the presence of Jewish Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel and the new Hillel House as attractive features of the university.
College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Larry Tobin said he chose to go to BU because it “had by far the nicest Hillel building, the best Judaic studies offering and the most Jews on campus.”
Tobin, who works for the Conservative Jewish student group at Hillel, said Boston’s liberal reputation also attracts many Jews.
Tobin agreed with the Brandeis survey’s assertion that there are an increasing number of interfaith families in the area, adding that many Jews at the university do not involve themselves with their faith.
“There are a lot of Jewish students at Boston University,” Tobin said. “However, I feel there is an even larger number of half Jews or Jews who kind of consider themselves Jewish.”