Ortho Kids Like Ritual, Summer-Camp Study Shows

An Israeli sociologist has published a study based on surveys he conducted with more than 700 kids at Jewish summer camps across the United States. Campers were presented with a list of 132 symbols—a range incluiding a talis, the Talmud, a Star of David, the Holocaust, Steven Spielberg, Woody Allen—and asked how much each one “expressed an aspect of their personal Jewish identity,” Ynet reports. The results are interesting: Kids at Orthodox summer camps identified their Jewishness primarily with religious practice, the Holocaust, Israel, and discrimination; at Conservative camps, they associated it with values like democracy, co-existence, ecology, and peace; Reform campers saw their Judaism best expressed through such achievements as wealth and success. Anne Frank and Hanukkah are apparently Reform, while Auschwitz and Talmud study are Orthodox.

Study: US Youth Differ in Perception of Jewish Identity [Ynet]