Tick the Jewish box

It will take you barely a second. All it involves is putting a tick in a box. But it is one of the most important and consequential things you can do to contribute to the future of British Jewish life.

Jewish Care has used the census to project how many elderly care places will be needed in care homes going forward. Partnerships for Jewish Schools (PaJeS) has used it to determine how many school places to provide. Langdon has used it to assess how many Jewish children have learning disabilities. World Jewish Relief has used it to build support for its work overseas.

We are aware that some people may be concerned about identifying themselves as Jewish in a government data gathering exercise. They have absolutely no cause to be. Census data are anonymised and used to understand populations as a whole, and cannot be used to identify or target individuals in any way whatsoever. Ticking the Jewish box is an easy and effective way to support the community, and holds no risk to any individuals.

We also know that some Jews prefer to identify themselves as Jewish by ethnicity rather than religion. There is an option on the census form that allows individuals to declare their ethnicity as Jewish and they should feel free to do so, but it is by ticking the Jewish box in the religion question that their data can be most readily utilised for community planning purposes.

Please read here for a fuller perspective