The influence of parents and University on the commitment of Jewish students to the Jewish community

The file contains a research on 'Jewish students and the influence of parents and University on their commitment to the Jewish community', written by Vera West. Also all the questionnairs, each 17 pages, correspondence with organisations, list with names of Jewish students and research articles are attached. The study is based on interviews with 155 English University Undergraduates who are all Jewish in the sense that they have at least one Jewish parent. 'This does not necessarily imply that the students consider that they are Jewish by religion, nor that they consider that being Jewish is an important part of their lives. It is the purpose of that paper to consider what Jewish birth does mean to these students', so Vera West explains. She subdivided her work into main topics like 'Background of the Jewish community and students', her 'theoretical orientation', 'comparison of the Universities and students', 'parents and student membership of the community', 'attitudes toward the Jewish community', 'alternative influence on the students' and 'the ethnic Factor'. Her study shows that the majority of the students hold similar views about participation in the Jewish community and religion to their parents. Those who have changed away from the position of their parents have been examined seperately and it is suggested that they were not influences by their University experience but had decided what life they wanted to lead before coming to University.