Limmud NY 2010: Results of Evaluation Survey

Prepared by Annie Schiff, Insight Fellow, Limmud NY

Demographic data prepared by Pearl Beck, Ph.D.

April 2010

Demographics

Prepared from registration form data by Pearl Beck, Ph.D.

Limmud NY Participants by Age: 2005 - 2010

14

32

21

8

1

13

27 25

9

2

11

3

24 2323

15

23 24

0

10

20

30

40

18-24 25-34 35-49 50-64 65-79 80+

Age

Proportion

2005-2008 2009 2010Mean Overall Age=39Median Overall Age=37

Limmud NY Status: Newcomers vs. Returnees, 2006-2010

64 6358

43

26

36 3742

57

74

0

20

40

60

80

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Percentage

Year

Newcomers Returnees

Limmud NY Participants by Denomination: 2005 - 2010

17

35

10

38

14

37

11

38

16

10

45

21

9

38

20

32

96

40

2932

3932

22

0

20

40

60

Orthodox Conservative Reform Other

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Limmud NY Participants by Geographic Areas: 2008 - 2010 Limmud NY

Participants by Geographic Area: 2008 & 2009 2008 2009 2010

% % %

Upper West Side 22 23 24

Upper East Side 3 3 2

Other Manhattan 13 13 12

Bronx 4 4 5

Brooklyn 9 9 10

Queens 4 2 3

Staten Island 0 <1 <1

Nassau 5 9 8

Suffolk 3 0 <1

Westchester 4 4 5

Total UJA Federation County Area 67 67 70Other NY State 4 2 2

New Jersey 10 14 13

MA & CT 4 3 4

Other States 13 11 8

Other Countries 3 3 2

TOTAL 101 100 99

Evaluation Survey

Prepared by Annie Schiff,

Insight Fellow, Limmud NY

Methodology and Response Rate

• Online survey sent to all 2010 Limmud NY participants during March 2010 (6 weeks after conference)

• 37% of Limmud 2010 participants who received the survey responded

Overall Satisfaction

Satisfaction Ratings by Conference Year, 2007-2010

51

35

49

1

57

29

3 37

49

29

105 7

64

20

26 9

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Very Satisfied Somewhat Satisfied Neutral SomewhatDissatisfied

Very Dissatisfied

2007 2008 2009 2010

Extent to Which Expectations Were Met

Expectation % “Very Much” and “A Great Extent”

Engage in Jewish Learning 90

Be exposed to ways of being Jewish that are different than my own

60

See how I feel about Jewish learning

54

See my friends 52

Meet new people 50

Plan to Attend Limmud NY the Following Year

28 2927

12

4

27

43

22

7

2

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Definitely Yes Probably Yes Not Sure Probably No Definitely No

2009

2010

* Common reasons why participants were unsure included cost,not sure if they would be in the NYC area

Satisfaction Ratings by Denomination: Proportion “Somewhat” and “Very Satisfied”

80

82

73

85

66

68

70

72

74

76

78

80

82

84

86

Orthodox Conservative Reform Other

Satisfaction Ratings by Age: Proportion “Somewhat” and “Very Satisfied”

96

8579 80

67

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

18-24 25-34 35-49 50-64 65+

Satisfaction Ratings by Gender: Proportion “Somewhat” and “Very Satisfied”

87

76

70

72

74

76

78

80

82

84

86

88

Female Male

* One respondent identified as “Other” and was “Very Satisfied”

Learning Experience

Participants’ Attitudes Regarding Limmud Learning Levels

3 18

86

2 21 3

17

76

0

20

40

60

80

100

2009 2010

Much too basic Too basic J ust about right

Too advanced Much too advanced

Extent to Which Learning Expectations Were Met

Expectation % “Very Much” and “A Great Extent”

Feel welcome in all sessions 87

Find sessions with content that

interested you

83

Learn something new 80

Find that sessions stimulated

conversation 76

Volunteer Experience

Volunteering Before and During the Conference

22

7968

32

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Before the conference During the conference

Yes

No

Hours Spent Planning Limmud NY 2010, by Conference Planners

39

12

2

39

7

0

10

20

30

40

50

>1 hour/ week 1-4 hours 5-10 hours 11-15 hours 15+ hours

* Total number of conference planners in the survey was 43. We estimate that thisIncludes our most active volunteers, and about half of our total volunteers.

Hours Spent Volunteering at Limmud NY 2010

17

5 6

73

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1-4 hours 5-10 hours 11-14 hours 15+ hours

* Total number of conference volunteers in the survey was 131

Extent to Which Volunteer Expectations Were Met for Planners

Expectation % “Very Much” and “A Great Extent”

Feel that others appreciated your

efforts 93

Feel informed about the overall vision of Limmud NY

74

Feel that Limmud NY has made good use of your time

74

Feel part of a Limmud NY community year round

65

Extent to Which Volunteer Expectations Were Met at the Conference

Expectation % “Very Much” and “A Great Extent”

Feel that others appreciated your

efforts 66

Feel that the volunteer process ran smoothly

58

Feel that Limmud NY made good use of your time

56

Feel more connected to the Limmud NY community as a result of volunteering

51

Participant Characteristics

Participants’ Denominations, Both Growing Up and Today

2117

48

35

116

24

42

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Orthodox Conservative Reform Other

Growing up

Today

Denominations that participants who grew up “Reform” consider themselves today

5

21

5

21

5

11 11

5

16

0

5

10

15

20

25

Conse

rvad

ox

Conse

rvat

ive

Cultu

rally

Jew

ish

Just

Jew

ish

Multi

-den

omin

atio

nal

Non-d

enom

inat

ional

Post-d

enom

inat

ional

Reconst

ruct

ionis

t

Reform

Denominations that participants who grew up “Conservative” consider themselves today

13

40

3 4 5 5

12 11

14

1 105

1015202530354045

Conse

rvad

ox

Conse

rvat

ive

Cultu

rally

Jew

ish

Just

Jew

ish

Multi

-den

omin

atio

nal

Non-d

enom

inat

ional

Othod

ox

Post-d

enom

inat

ional

Reconst

ruct

ionis

t

Reform

Secula

r

Secula

r Hum

anis

t

* Grew up “Conservative” or “Conservadox”

Denominations that participants who grew up “Orthodox” consider themselves today

5 3 3 5 8 5

50

13

3 3 3

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Conse

rvad

ox

Conse

rvat

ive

Hassi

dic

Just

Jew

ish

Multi

-den

omin

atio

nal

Non-d

enom

inat

ional

Orthodo

x

Post-d

enom

inat

ional

Reform

Renew

al

Secula

r

What are 1-2 additional words to describe your Jewish identity?

• About observance– “observant”, “open/modern orthodox”, “orthoprax”,

“halakhic”, “kosher home”

• About gender-egalitarian observance– “traditionally egalitarian”, “halachically egalitarian”,

“egalitarian, semi-observant”

• About a process rather than a label (-ing words)– “striving, seeking”, “evolving Jew”, “undecided”,

“involved, concerned, growing”, “fluctuating”, “expansive, yearning”, “trying hard”, “coming back home”

What are 1-2 additional words to describe your Jewish identity?

• About Israel– “Israeli”, “Zionist”, “American Zionist”, “Zionist and

spiritual”, “born and raised Israeli Jew”, “pluralist zionist”, “mesorati”

• About learning– “learner”, “intellectual halachic”, “text-based”, “book-

oriented”

• About ethnicity and culture– “culturally identifying”, “Sephardic/Mizrahi/Observant”,

“Sephardic, Multicultural”, “southern, diasporist”, “Roots, family”

What are 1-2 additional words to describe your Jewish identity?

• Other– “Traditional semi-observant perpetual questioner”– “Progressive but respectful”– “committed, often bored”– “affiliated, dues payer”– “enthusiastic, epikorus”– “child of survivors”– “tikkun olam”– “ahavat israel v hashem”– “PROUD, ETHICAL”– “part of [it] in my own way”

Participants’ Jewish Educational Experiences

42

5970

58

4753

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Day School SupplementarySchool

Camp Youth Group Hillel Jewish Studies

* The overall percentage of survey respondents who had participated in Birthright Israelwas low, since most Limmud NY participants are not eligible. The total number of Birthright Israel participants among survey respondents was 17. The total number whohad participated in other Israel trips with peers was 95.

Feedback

Strengths and Positive Experiences

• Diversity and interaction– “Just amazing. My wife and I are very different religiously, but

we both found the experience enriching. We have championed this with our congregation and friends.”

– “I love the fact that there were so many differentiations of ages among the participants and that kids felt so comfortable there”

– “The tisch was amazing harmony, togetherness of all kinds of jews (including those adorable and tolerant chassidim whose phenomenal hats completed the skyline), and deep vignettes interspersed.”

– “My study partner in the Chavruta was a Hasid. I am secular. I see the Bible as a collection of stories, laws poetry and history written by different people at different time periods, yet we learned from each other.”

Strengths and Positive Experiences

• Variety– “Memorable to me is… the great diversity of things that I did.

For example, attending a very academic presentation by a JTS professor, seeing Israeli short films, attending a play, going to a program on the origins of certain prayers, learning about a splinter group of chasidim, studying a piece of Talmud.”

• Volunteerism– “The hundreds of hours it took to make it happen (I know; I’ve

done similar conference planning) showed and paid off.”– “It was clear that the organization is almost completely run on

volunteers, and there is a strong culture of volunteerism – so it felt like something I should do to be part of the community and not just taking from it. The culture of volunteering at Limmud is quite impressive!”

• Great facility

Areas of Improvement

• Alternatives to text study– “Premise of all programs was ‘text’ and/or ‘god.’ What about

those jews who have made a decision that a rich jewish life can be led without these elements.”

• Programmatic areas to strengthen– Arts and performance– Film festival– Current events, big issues, politics– Social justice, connection to MLK Day– Meditation and yoga– Opportunities to be physically active

• More time off between sessions and for meals• Food needs more variety and protein

Areas of Improvement• Diversity

– “I'd like to see more people from Reform roots, I felt ‘outnumbered’ by those more observant than I, and felt that the curriculum/programming was more formal/traditional than my own practice.”

– “A major highlight was the LGBTQ meetup time… I think that Limmud's diversity tended in other areas to feel more like tokenism or ‘let me explain my minority Judaism to you mainstream Jews’ and that was somewhat off-putting.”

– “More of a[n] intro on ‘not making assumptions’ around people’s gender, sexual orientation is needed. People tended to assume heterosexuality when really in a space like Limmud, those things should be respectfully asked.”

– Could better represent Sephardic Jews, Jews of Color, Russian Jews, centrist and traditional Orthodox Jews, and those not from the Upper West Side