JC
The Cleaveland Jewish News reports on the numbers of Jews of color counted in the U.S. in a recent study. Hopefully, this research will serve a purpose similar to the 2000 Census, which really opened up this nation’s eyes to the numbers of mixed individuals and mixed families who are in this country. The broader Jewish community needs to realize that there are many Jews who are also people of color — and then welcome and serve them just as they do their other members (i.e. white Jews).

Up to 20% of an estimated six million U.S. Jews, or 1.2 million people, are African-American, Asian-American, Latino, Sephardi, Middle Eastern or of mixed race.

That’s the major finding of research conducted over the past four years by the San Francisco-based Institute for Jewish and Community Research, contained in the book In Every Tongue by the institute’s president Gary Tobin and co-authors Diane Tobin and Scott Rubin.

The figures are substantially higher than the usual estimates of 10% to 14%, the authors say. The research and interviews also showed that some of these Jews feel alienated from their ethnic or racial communities and from mainstream American Jewry, but they continue to identify strongly with both. Included in the population count are Latino “hidden” Jews reclaiming their Jewish roots in the American Southwest.