ABSTRACT
Palm Beach County, Florida, with 221,000 Jews, ranks in population among the top six Jewish communities in the United States. Only New York City, Los Angeles, Broward County (Florida), Chicago, and Boston rank higher. However, in 1995 the noted demographer Ira Sheskin of the University of Miami determined that 18.2 percent of all Jewish households in South Palm Beach County belong to a synagogue. This is one of the lowest percentages of any major Jewish community in the United States. (According to Tobin and Berger's 1993 study, the western United States has the lowest regional rate of affiliation, 29 percent.) 1 This percentage could also reflect the overall decline in synagogue affiliation. In 1955 60 percent of all Jews were affiliated. 2 A 1993 study measured that percentage as under 40 percent.
