Pandemic practices have brought what appears to be fundamental changes to how many Americans practice their faith, and Jewish worship is no exception. A new survey by the Synagogue Studies Institute finds that 85% of Jewish synagogues in the U.S. now offer worship online — a marked jump from 24% that did in 2019, prior to the pandemic. More significantly, 70% of synagogues surveyed said they expect they will continue to do so five years from now.
The survey of 248 U.S. synagogues will be published this fall as part of Faith Communities Today, a multifaith research initiative that has been tracking trends in the U.S. religious landscape since 2000.
“Synagogues have embraced technology in a big way, which is interesting because if we look at 2010, synagogues lagged behind churches in using technology,” said Rabbi Aaron Spiegel, the study’s principal investigator.
As the latest study shows, the embrace of videoconferencing and livestreaming is actually helping Jews engage more fully with their faith.
Source: For Jews, pandemic-era online worship has an enduring upside