About 1.5 million European Jews hide their religion – report
A report by two Jewish groups shows that about 1.5 million European Jews hide their religion, the European Jewish Press reports.
“About 40 per cent of European Jews choose to hide their Jewishness and about 75 per cent of European Jewish children do not attend Jewish schools,’’reveals the report released by the European Jewish Association (EJA) and the Rabbinical Center of Europe (RCE).
The two groups said that the data they received came from more than 800 rabbis and members of their organisation across Europe.
According to EJA Director General Rabbi Menachem Margolin, the number of Jews who attend synagogue on Yom Kippur is double that of regular Saturday attendees, however, “About 70 per cent of European Jews will choose not to attend synagogue on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.”
Margolin says that about 500 000 Jews will take part in services for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, at the 1353 synagogues in Europe this year.
The report said that the Jewish intermarriage rate in Europe stands at 80 per cent. A survey published in 2013 by the European Union’s Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) showed 25 per cent of European Jews were afraid to wear Jewish symbols in public.
(All photos: Clive Leviev-Sawyer)
