The Twenty-Up Longitudinal Study: Young Americans and Canadians from the Bar/Bat Mitzvah Class of 5755 (1995)

Members of the Bar/Bat Mitzvah class of 5755 were first contacted in 1995 during their Bar/Bat Mitzvah year along with their parents. Over 1,400 American and Canadian families, members of Conservative synagogues, were involved. These young Jews were re-interviewed during high school in 1999, during college in 2003 and will be again in 2017.

The longitudinal study provides a golden opportunity to understand the evolution and development of Jewish identity, and to move beyond correlation towards causation.

In high school the students’ Jewishness was a religious identity that was provided by the parents: ascribed. In college their Jewishness was self-chosen and, for most, predominantly secular. We will find out in 2017 whether as mature adults they are reconnecting with or disconnecting from their Jewish religious roots.

These early millennials are Jewish harbingers. During college they became less religious, yet maintained a strong sense of Jewish peoplehood-- similar to the pattern showed by the 2013 Pew Jewish Survey.

Members of the class of 5755 are now 35 years old. Some are parents now. Have they come full circle, raising their own children the way they were raised, in Conservative synagogues? And if they do, what are the predictors of doing so?

Most of this cohort was raised in intact families and 95% were raised by two Jewish parents. The American Jewish family has experienced many transformations in the ensuing two decades, with more delayed marriages and increased intermarriage. We will explore and document the interplay between societal forces and personal traits.