Connecting Ukrainian refugees with Israeli tech sector + New L.A. community study data – eJewish Philanthropy

Good Thursday morning!

In today’s Your Daily Philwe cover how newly arrived Ukrainian- and Russian-speaking refugees are being welcomed in Israel’s high-tech industry. Below, we share a peek at the newest reports from the Los Angeles Jewish community study.

How many Jewish Angelenos have received some Jewish education? What factors encourage someone to show up to a Jewish event? How do Jews of color feel in Jewish institutions in Los Angeles? The answers to these questions are presented in four new reports released this week by The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles.

The reports are part of the 2022 “Study of Jewish Los Angeles,” the first part of which was released in July. The demographic survey is the first comprehensive study of Jewish Los Angeles since 1997.

“‘The Study of Jewish LA’ and these new reports have been inspired by a desire to help our federation and our partners understand the wonderful diversity and complex identities that make up our Jewish community,” the federation’s president and CEO, Rabbi Noah Farkas, told eJewishPhilanthropy.

These new reports focus on four areas: Jewish Community Connections, which examines what makes L.A. Jews feel like they are welcomed or belong; Jewish Education, which looks at all aspects of children’s participation in local Jewish life; Jewish Congregations, which provides insight on how the community participates in rituals and religious services; and Jewish Engagement, which explores the nuances of what “engagement in Jewish life” means in today’s local landscape.

“Many understand engagement by looking at how people affiliate, what denomination they identify with, etc,” Shira Rosenblatt, the federation’s associate chief program officer, said in a statement. “These boxes no longer accurately reflect our Jewish identities, which are more complex, less attached to specific labels, and more nuanced.”

For instance, the level of interest in programs and community is illustrated across five categories of involvement: Ritual, Immersed, Minimally Involved, Holiday and Communal.

While the “Immersed” (17%) might celebrate all holidays, mark Shabbat weekly, attend Jewish programs, donate to Jewish causes and read Jewish publications, and most are members of a synagogue or other spiritual community, the “Holiday” Jews (27% in the sample) might attend a Passover Seder, light Hanukkah candles and occasionally mark Shabbat.

Read the full story here.