A comprehensive study examines the attitudes of Jews in Israel regarding the question “Who is a Jew?”
During the summer of 2021, an interactive digital game was conducted online regarding the “Who is a Jew” question, with thousands of Israeli Jewish participants.1
The game was developed by THEMADAD.COM,2 and marketed by the Kan News network.3 Data from the game was featured on the Kan News website, and in radio and television broadcasts. Viewers, listeners, and readers of the various Kan News media were offered the opportunity to participate in the game, which centered around a multi-stage questionnaire addressing different aspects of Jewish identity and characteristics of the Jewish people. The data presented in this report is based on the information collected in the framework of that media research project. It has been weighted by Professor Camil Fuchs, in order to represent the views of the Israeli Jewish public.
In the appendices of this report, you can find data on the composition of the original questionnaire’s respondent group. It should be noted that all respondents answered some of the questions, while another set of questions was intended for only a portion of the respondents, based on their earlier answers. Accordingly, the present report includes some data pertaining to only a segment of the Jewish population who responded in a certain way to specific questions.
Those interested can register for the project and see for themselves how the questions were posed. The report presented here is based on a full calculation of the answers given by 2500 respondents, and from time to time, as needed, on data gathered after. At the time of writing, the number of respondents was 5000. It should be noted that, in addition to the Hebrew questionnaire, a similar, though not identical, questionnaire was prepared in English, which has also been posted online.
With the aid of this questionnaire, we hope to gather data on the views of non-Israeli Jews regarding the questions presented here, and to publish a comparative report that would indicate similarities and differences in the views of Israeli and non-Israeli Jews, as well as other distributions of views in the Jewish world with regard to issues raised in the study.
The Jewish People Policy Institute wishes to thank all those involved in the initiative. Special thanks are due to Tomer Brand, the digital editor of Kan News, and to all the other employees of his department, who helped greatly in setting up and promoting the project.