Beyond the Count Perspectives and Lived Experiences of Jews of Color

Key Findings:

Beyond the Count was commissioned to inform the work of the Jews of Color Initiative (JoCI), a national effort focused on building and advancing the professional, organizational, and communal field for JoC; the study was housed at Stanford University.

The term “Jews of Color” is used to encompass a wide range of identities and meanings. Those who self-identified as JoC in this study used the term in a multiplicity of ways: as a racial grouping (e.g. Black, Asian, and multiracial Jews); to indicate national heritage (e.g. Egyptian, Iranian, and Ethiopian Jews); to describe regional and geographic connections (e.g. Latina/o/x, Mizrahi, Sephardic Jews); and to specify sub-categories (e.g. transracially adopted Jews and Jewish Women of Color). 

Survey Participant Characteristics:

45% of respondents selected two or more racial categories. 66% identify as “biracial, mixed, multiracial” or some combination of those identities.

64% of survey respondents have at least one Jewish parent: 42% have one and 22% have two Jewish parents.

40% indicated they converted or were converted to Judaism. 

65% of respondents were raised Jewish: 49% raised Jewish and 16% raised Jewish and something else. 

77% of survey respondents said they identify as Jewish exclusively; another 21% said they identify as Jewish and with one or more other religions.

42% of respondents identify as Ashkenazi. 

52% of survey respondents are in their 20s and 30s.

58% identified as heterosexual/straight and 34% identified with a different sexual/romantic orientation, such as homosexual/gay/lesbian or bisexual/biromantic. 

Respondents’ expressions of Jewishness are most frequently connected to a sense of justice and 

connection with the past and the future, with 76% of respondents stating “working for justice and equality (tikkun olam)” as “very important.” 

80% of survey respondents agreed they have experienced discrimination in Jewish settings. More than half reported experiencing discrimination in a Jewish spiritual community, congregation, or synagogue. 20% have not experienced discrimination in Jewish settings.

Regarding respondents’ sense of belonging in predominantly white Jewish communities, 54% of respondents indicated there is not a lot of racial/ethnic diversity in their Jewish communities. Yet 51% agreed they have felt a sense of belonging among white Jews. 

32% of survey respondents indicated that “caring about Israel” was “very important.” 16% responded that it was “moderately important,” or 19% “somewhat important.”