Image: Woman reading from her computer screen with cup in hand. (Shutterstock photo ID: 377318731. All rights reserved.)
Wow! I am so grateful for all the responses I received to the post I’m Curious: Who is Reading? To date, there have been 51 respondents, far more than I dared to hope when I posted the survey.
I’ve learned a lot, and it will definitely help me in keeping this blog fresh and interesting for you. Here is the raw data:
- How do you identify?
- 29 identified as “Jewish”
- 14 identified as “Not Jewish”
- 1 identified as “both”
- 3 identified as having “Jewish heritage,” 1 as having discovered Crypto-Jews in the family tree.
- A number of you converted to Judaism and mentioned it.
- How much Jewish education have you had?
- 10 said “None.”
- None said, “Some, but don’t remember much.”
- 11 went to Religious School.
- 2 went to a Jewish Day School or something like it.
- 20 reported doing most of their learning as adults.
- 2 have degrees in Jewish studies.
- And two of you are Jewish professionals.
- Movements, etc.:
- 17 Reform
- 1 Renewal
- 3 Modern Orthodox or similar
- 2 Reconstructionists
- 5 Conservative
- 2 “Just Jewish” or similar
- 7 “Just Curious”
- 4 identified as Episcopalians
- 1 identified as Mormon
- 5 identified as Multi- or Post-denominational
If the numbers don’t seem to add up quite right, it’s because some readers reported falling into more than one category. That’s fine with me.
I was aware that this blog had two groups of clients. The first, for whom I originally designed it, are people seeking very simple, accessible information about Jewish topics. Most of those people access the blog via search engines, at the rate of about 600 “hits” a day. I’m glad to serve them with answers about what to wear to Jewish funerals, and Bar/Bat Mitzvah etiquette.
Regular readers, those of you who replied to the survey, were quite a surprise. Many of you have made a serious project of studying Judaism as adults. You are sophisticated learners and bring your own insights to the material. However, you aren’t a homogenous group – there’s a nice leavening of beginners, too.
My takeaway from this is that I should not be shy about offering studies on short Jewish texts and other more challenging material. That’s good, because I have covered as many beginner topics as I can think of (which is why I love questions so much – I can remember being a beginner, but I’ve forgotten some things, too.)
Thank you all for participating in the survey! You add to my learning, and for that I am very grateful!
This was quite enlightening and I’m interested in learning about the “short Jewish texts” you may write about.
Right now I will be focusing on learning Hebrew and supporting my wife as she begins her conversion process.
Learning Hebrew will do wonders. I wish you b’chatzlecha (good luck) with it! And I hope