From London to Gdansk: reliable data help foster Jewish lives

Among the most important data I shared were some of the results from the JPR Research Panel survey we conducted among British Jews in summer 2024. Critically, the data looks at how recent events have impacted British Jews, and they clearly reveal just how challenging life has been. They show multiple signs of increased insecurity and anxiety, erosion of trust in some of the country’s most important political and media institutions, and a tendency to ‘close in’ – to gravitate towards the safety and security found among Jewish friends, and a parallel shift away from the uncertainty and apprehension around non-Jewish ones. Not everyone feels this – there are plenty of exceptions – but looking across the community as a whole, these are the dominant patterns.

I have shared these data numerous times over the past year, in Britain and around the world. And the reaction is similar everywhere. These feelings aren’t unique to British Jews. They are universal.

Turning feelings, experiences and opinions into reliable data

But in the hard-nosed, rapidly changing world of politics, they are only ‘true’ if they can be proven. Such opinions and experiences need to be accurately measured, and demonstrated clearly through credible research. That’s why it is so critical to pursue an academically robust, multi-faceted, strategic approach to social research on Jews. Without that, all we have in our armoury are a few anecdotes and feelings.

Right now, we are working to update those data from mid-2024. The JPR ‘Jews in Uncertain Times Survey’ is currently in the field, open to any self-identifying Jew living in the UK aged 16 or older. As last year, it seeks to understand how you are feeling today, as a Jew, living in Britain, in light of the many unsettling and traumatic experiences happening around us in the UK, Israel and across the world. And as last year, the data generated will be used to ensure that community leaders, politicians and journalists know exactly what Jews think and feel, so that there is no possibility that they can ever say ‘we did not know.’

But to allow us to do that work, we need your help. You need you to complete the questionnaire. Without your participation, without hearing about your experiences and opinions, without your data and input, we have nothing to say beyond anecdotal evidence and personal feelings. That doesn’t cut it in the real world. 

So, if you are eligible, please complete the survey. Your views matter, irrespective of what they are. It will only take about thirty minutes of your time, but what you say will ultimately reach the most influential players working to fight antisemitism and support Jewish life in Britain and around the world. 

At the end of my presentation in Gdańsk, I was surrounded by a coterie of government ministers and Jewish community leaders, all eager to obtain the data I had shared. They need it, they told me. They can’t fight this fight without it. So please help them by completing the survey.