good morning and welcome to mosaic i am honored to be your host. across our country's, faith communities are changing. are making an intense effort to get to know themselves. we want to invite you into a conversation about a jewish population study that has been concluded in the san francisco bay area. >> i want to introduce you to judy gold who is a director of community impact of the jewish committee federation and endowment foundation. >> this is andrew cashner is also a director. welcome.

>> thank you. >> what is the jewish population study? >> this is a study about the demographics and so much more of the bay area jewish commthat are exciting about the study. the most exciting is this is the first population study that has been done that includes the entire bay area. that is 10 counties. >> it looks at demographics but also socio-demographics. >> generally we're talking about the far east bay, including silicon valley and of north throughout napa county? >> exactly and even solano county in san francisco. >> what are some of the things we have learned much, i will just say a few key takeaways.

one of the most important takeaways as we engaged the is we have a highly engaged small core in the jewish community. the vast population in the bay area of jewish people are not actively engaged. >> rewinding a little bit, i think when communities look at themselves, one of the core questions is if somebody feels they are part of the community, they want to know who was included. so how was the study actually done? >> it was done in a mess of the logically -- methodologically sound way. we did a very controlled, random sample.

we workeco that helped us construct a sample. over 3000 respondents and it is weighted vesoyou can derive generalized conclusions peer speed >> fascinating, the last time the bay area jewish community did a study on itself was when? >> in 2004 they did a study with a subset of the bay area. in 2011 the east bay did a study for that area. it has been quite a few years and this is precedent setting because it is the entire area. >> so we really took a holistic

approach. when we o jews are, not necessarily everybody would know this. some of the questions we ask ourselves are, who is a jew and what is jewish status? what are some of the ways in which that was on this? >> we use the broadest definition. if you consider yourself jewish or partially in any way by religion or anything, you are in the screening. it's not a narrow definition at all. we also consider part of the population people who live with jews or are married with jews. >> have over 350,000 jewish people in the bay area in 473,000 total people in jewish

households. >> fascinating, let's take a quick break. but before we go how does the bay area rank in terms of its number of jewish community in the country quick >> we are the fourth largest. i think it goes new york, los angeles, southeast florida which was like what? sorry florida. [ laughter ] los angeles and the bay area. >> we will take a quick break and come back in a moment.

welcome back to mosaic, we are in the middle of a wonderful conversation about a jewish population study the jewish community has done in the bay area. i would like to introduce you to directors of the impact at two different federations. welcome back. we were talking about some of the basics around the jewish population study. i'm wondering, what are some of the things we can do about this

particular jewish community at this point? >> there is a lot to say. will use the portrait to really assess the state of our community. what we cannot say about our community is it is extraordinarily diverse. and is stable and we see a lot of movement within the bay area. >> we have a lot of young jews who are looking to find ways to connect to community and diverse ways. >> do we know how the population age pie cuts in terms of age and race quick --? >> we know a lot.

in terms of the pie, the largest percentage of our population are young adults. we have the largest young adult population of any jewish community in the u.s.. that is percentage of population, not numbers of people. the second bubble of the population are baby boomers. >> so young adult is probably 18 through - >> 34. >> fantastic. what are some of the other teams emerging from the study? >> and he mentioned the diversity. i daresay we have the most diverse jewish population perhaps in the whole world outside of israel. you see that increasing

diversity growing the younger you look at the population. >> about a quarter of households have racial and ethnic diversity. as you get younger, it's about 38%. we can assume that trend would increase. >> i know there is so much being looked at and analyzed, but i'm wondering what is highlighted on how people express their jewish side. we have one of the most diverse communities in the world. what does it say about how a jew of color and lgb to jew -- lgbt jew or person who is a

single parent or person who comes here on their own who may be an immigrant to the bay area, what is all of that saying about how we might want to be jewish and express the jewish culture? >> it is a unique characteristic of the bay area. certainly we are really defined by flexibility. we have this adventurous spirit. we don't necessarily experience jewish life in a particular way. there is an opennessto integrating from other cultures and values. that is really the character there and the way in which jewish life is celebrated and expressed. >> it seems interesting because faith communities generally think of their life in place of

worship like a church, temple or synagogue. part of what i hear you saying is it might be the locus of our jewishness is not singular. not monolithic, it's not even in one thematic structure. >> it's very well put. >> we are in a moment of experiencing a creative renaissance. we are in a jewish innovation or startup sector. we're looking at new pathways and earth based ions>> let's t come back to continue this wonderful conversation about in

the bay area. maria, sho maria: it was 4th period biology. our students just weren't getting how easily viruses spread. so ms. bell and i had them role play a zombie virus outbreak.

by the time they had all learned the lesson, all the living...were dead. hey, how's your job going? carlos: oh, that big sales meeting i planned? next year, i might get to go. kid: cool! >> yeah, i'm watching it too. i see them every day. >> the curtains, they're always drawn in this place. >> i know. >> that guy, it seems like he's in charge of them. i don't know, i don't feel very good about this. >> we have to report this. >> yes, absolutely.

good morning and welcome back to mosaic. we're in the middle of a wonderful conversation about the jewish population study that was just done in the bay area. welcome back to julie gold and rabbi andrew cason who are directors of community impact. >> at the jewish community federation and endowment and in the east bay is rabbi andrew cashner.

it seems like the population study is in the midst of a robust analysis. it's not a singular concluded portrait. portrait is a wonderful word because it is a little more dynamic than study or analysis. >> it seems like it is ongoing and i wonder if you can talk a little about how that's going lexi --? >> i also love the word portrait because when you look at a portrait in a museum, there is so much depth to it, as opposed to a photograph which is flat. >> there is ongoing analysis that we rolled a portrait out in january, the whole conversation is being participated in in meetings. there is a final report due at the end of the summer.

>> finally we have a digital tool so people can play around with the data and look at it through different perspectives. if you look at the website, you will see additional reports and people are writing a lot of opinion pieces. you can find that on the website under the community study banner. >> is there a place for somebody in the community to give what they see? >> absolutely, we want a place for conversation where people can say, here is where i see myself. >> in that context, what are some of the challenges or ways in which we see ourselves that are perhaps different? >> i think andy really described what is so incredible, and

siding and dynamic about the bay area jewish community. pivoting from that, going back to the original observation that so many people are unengaged in jewish life and community. with all of that vibrancy, it is a core. that is a significant take away. thinking about, why is that? and what can we do to draw more people to experience jewish life? since it provides so much meaning and grounding in the world today. >> that is really what we are looking at some of these community conversations. how can this lead to new policy and direction? so the community is well represented -- representative of the full population. >> what are some label pockets of folks? you think of

concentric circles and there is a core with inner and outer circles. can we name some of those outer circles? >> we found economic stress and strain in the bay area population. and even pockets of poverty. more than the poverty, which was about 2%, about 20% of people said they are really struggling. there just barely managing to make ends meet. we find, perhaps in previous studies for generations, older people were the ones who were less financially secure. >> this is reflected in the general population and affirmed by our -- our study. young adults and families are struggling to make ends meet in very profound ways. there saddled with things that

older generations just aren't, like the cost of housing, student debt and the lack of stability in the job market. >> it is affecting younger people in profound ways that we don't expect to just resolve. when i was growing up there was a struggle, but there was an understanding you would hit a certain age. it doesn't feel that way anymore. >> you use the term economic uncertainty, does that express itself with what seems to be across the board of one career quick -- ones career? from the college graduate to retirement? >> no, much more so in the younger ages and like 35 to 49 has the lack of economic stability. i don't mean to imply there are not seniors struggling, but the

most economic need is in the younger sense. >> is the 2% of the poverty group an older group? >> that we need to unpack a little bit more. and he and i have spoken about diving more deeply into the 2%. then of course 20% of the yes, we're making it but barely. >> we will take a quick break and come back on mosaic.

good morning and welcome back to mosaic we're in the middle of a wonderful conversation about the jewish demographic portrait done in the bay area. welcome back rabbi andrew cashner and julie gold. rabbi, we were talking about economic stressors of the portrait study. i wonder if you can talk a little bit more about what they are. >> one thing i wanted to highlight is these pockets of poverty and economic stress really impact us psychologically and emotionally.

it presents itself as a headline. community, it is easy to see affluence and economic boom. one of the great gifts the portrait offers us is an ability to see what is hard to see and the responsibility we have is a community is to look at the safety net within the community and how it can be more active. >> the other piece is, we know there is a stigma around poverty and economic strain. part of our role as a immunity -- community is to be conscious and address the strength so we can be more supportive of those in need. >> it brings to my mind the complexity of what that means. when you think of the jewish community at large as an immigrant community d a

suesgranory, part of the story has to eris an assumption that you go to college, get a career and education elevate. >> there are a lot of things that lineup after that. part of what we see with economic stress as you might do those things, yet it may not be the same level of success. expectations are changing and a lot of us in the community are into trades or become disabled or don't earn an income-based on a professional career. >> i'm wondering what those things will show us about ourselves, in terms of the poorest in this -- porous interaction with one another. >> it's too soon to tell, but we have seen the work of federation and philanthropy

within the jewish community change. this data point highlights the origin of federations in the bay area and country. it is to be success thus make accessible and supportive of those within our community and reach out to help them stabilize. >> the shape it will take is part of our work moving forward. >> do we know at this point where somebody's pockets are? is it across the entire bay area or in a particular county? >> the part people are struggling to make ends meet is throughout. don't look at when county or geographic area, it is evenly distributed. in terms of poverty, we need to do a deeper analysis on where that is.

that's part of the final report with more detail. >> also, it's really true about if the jewish community is more occupied by middle-class and affluent people, and that is not your story, you won't often. -- opt in. you just won't think it is relevant for you. it's important as we go forward to think about how to make this community that really is reflective of the population. >> right now, i don't think it is. so we have worked today. -- work to do. >> the consequences issues around philanthropy and access.

this is a wonderful conversation , we encourage you to go to the web right and continue to participate. for more information, go to www.jewishfederation.org . thank you for being with us on mosaic.

mccain.. as family and friends gather in arizona.... to pay tribute to al the nation is mourning the death of republican senator john mccain. asamild frnds gath in izona to e to war hero and the political giant. it is 6 a.m. on this sunday, august 26th and nominee for president in 2008. he had been suffering from may malignant brain tumor and friday his family announced he was stopping all cancer treatment. mccain got the decision more than a year -- diagnosis more than a year ago. despite his condition, he returned to the senate last -- he died yesterday afternoon at 81 at his home in arizona.