(JNi.media) About 85% of Israeli Jews in Germany are secular—as opposed to 46% of Israeli Jews in Israel; 62% have a university degree—compared with 46% nation-wide in Israel; and at least 70% defined their world-view in the Israeli context as “left wing,” Israeli German Spitz Magazine reported in its December issue. Spitz is an independent magazine, whose founder and editor Tal Alon is a journalist who used to work as news desk chief for Yediot Aharonot and Maariv. She has been living in Berlin with her family since the summer of 2009.
The initial findings of the study, the result of a collaboration between Wuppertal University and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, were presented last Friday by Prof. Uzi Rebhun and Prof. Danny Krenz at the Moses Mendelssohn Center in Potsdam. Some 600 Jewish Israelis (born in Israel and Hebrew speakers) were surveyed online, and a few Dozen Israelis living in Germany participated in in-depth Personal interviews conducted by Prof. Krenz and Cultural Anthropologist Katja Harbi.
Incidentally, after cross-checking data from different sources, the survey’s authors have concluded that the number of Israelis in Germany is a lot smaller than was believed, not more than 16,000, in contrast with various reports claiming higher numbers in Berlin alone.
One of the most interesting findings of the survey, according to Spitz, is the fact that about 69.1% of respondents define their sociopolitical outlook in the Israeli context as “left wing,” 22.4% as “center” and only 8.4% as “Right wing” — results which are dramatically different from the results of the most recent Israeli elections.
Another interesting statistic is the fact that in Germany 84.7% of Israelis are secular, 10.7% described themselves as “a little religious,” 3.9%” “moderately religious,” and only 0.7% as “very religious.” By comparison, according to a study by the Israel Democracy Institute in 2009, only 46% of Israeli Jews define themselves as secular while 32% are traditional, and 22% say they are religious or ultra-Orthodox. Similarly, while 68% of Israeli Jews say they always fast on Yom Kippur, 77.9% of Israelis in Germany said they do not ever fast on Yom Kippur.
Here is another fascinating finding: according to Spitz, 46.5% of Israelis with higher education have degrees in the arts and the humanities, compared with only 18.3% Israeli Jews in Israel with similar degrees.
58.5% of the respondents have immigrated to Germany at ages 25-34; economic reasons were cited by the vast majority; 26.1% have a German citizenship; 54% live with a spouse who is a German national; and 54.4% have parents or grandparents who are Holocaust survivors.
